Dagga should be treated like tobacco and alcohol, court told

THE controversial Dagga Party wants dagga users to have the same rights as those who use tobacco and alcohol.

In addition, party leader Jeremy Acton told the Cape Town High Court yesterday that prisoners with dagga-related convictions should be released.

Acton and pro-dagga parties, as well as activist Garreth Prince, have applied to the court to have the prohibition of dagga declared unconstitutional.

“We ask that all cannabis prisoners be released and that previous convictions [be] wiped clean,” Acton said before a full bench.

Earlier, Prince, a Rastafarian and trained lawyer, argued that dagga did not belong in the Drugs and Trafficking Act.

He said there were no legitimate reasons why the government should have penal provisions in respect of dagga use.

He also said there was no evidence to show that dagga was unsafe and had killed millions.

Alcohol and tobacco, on the other hand, had sent many to their graves.

“This is an equality issue. Cannabis should be treated the same as alcohol and tobacco,” Prince said.

He approached the Constitutional Court more than 10 years ago to argue it was his constitutional right to use dagga.

He also tried to have the Cape Law Society admit him as an attorney‚ something it would not do because he had a conviction for dagga possession.

In 2001, he told the Sunday Times that dagga was a sacrament within the Rastafarian movement.

Yesterday, state advocate Siphokazi Poswa-Lenotholi argued that the evidence in support of Acton and Prince’s action was weak and a waste of the court’s time.

The state wants the matter to be tabled before parliament.

The case hearing continues.