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Dagga bill a stepping stone ‘to bigger issues’
Awaiting the president's signature, the Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill removes cannabis from the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act.
Darian Caleb Jacobsen, a teacher at Cheeba Cannabis Academy with a cannabis plant inside a specialised grow room at the Cheeba Cannabis Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa on June 15, 2023. (Photo by Ihsaan HAFFEJEE / AFP)
As the Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill awaits the signature of the president to be passed into law, Fields of Green for All managing director Myrtle Clarke said the most important part of this was that it took cannabis out of the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act.
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“That’s what we wanted. It, however, doesn’t allow for trade and there are no amounts available yet and we have to deal with that for now,” she said.
Clarke said this was a stepping stone for bigger things to come in the cannabis industry.
“Police are still arresting people and will continue to arrest people on the basis that they are trading in cannabis.
“We have no idea how they expect us to get the cannabis or be able to get cannabis if you can’t grow it yourself,” she said.
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Clarke said that was why they promoted the dagga private club project. Clarke said they were going to the Supreme Court on 19 March in the Haze Club case and that the case will then go to the Constitutional Court.
The club is seeking a declaratory order on whether the private clubs are legal or not, she said.
“Fields of Green is paying attention to the grey areas, such as trade, the cops, clarity on the private clubs and the Labour Court regarding testing at work though our projects,” she added.
