A White River shop specialising in a variety of dagga products, Smokers Barn, got the thumbs down from the local police despite ongoing law changes of the cultivation of cannabis and hemp.

Patrick Dreyer (36) and Luke Lombard (21) had already appeared in court in town for selling dagga peanut butter, cookies, lollipops and dry dagga. Their stock of R420 000 was also confiscated, according to a provincial police spokesperson, Brigadier Selvy Mohlala. The shop, with its interesting but nevertheless illegal products, will stay closed until such time as the SAPS finishes its investigations.

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Both Dreyer and Lombard are out on bail of R2 000 each after having appeared in the White River Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday November 8.

Mohlala said the public tipped them off about the shop in William Lynn Street with its highly contentious products in a variety of shapes and sizes. However, changes in the law are afoot.

While the selling of dagga is illegal, the cultivation and possession of it for personal use in a private home are not considered illegal anymore. A police directive dated August 23 instructed SAPS members not to arrest those who grow and use the substance on private property after a 2018 ruling by the Constitutional Court.
According to the Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill B19-2020, it allows a person to have unlimited seeds and seedlings, four flowering plants if you live alone or eight plants for two adults, 600g of dried cannabis if you live alone or 1.2kg in homes with two or more adults.