Dagga couple take notes from California legislation

THE South African so-called dagga couple are closely watching the state of California where dagga is now legal – unless it is sold in an edible form shaped as human or fruit.

Johannesburg residents Jules Stobbs and Myrtle Clarke are fighting in the Pretoria High Court to have the South African laws prohibiting dagga ruled unconstitutional‚ based on the fact‚ they argue‚ that local laws are not rational and fail to achieve their purpose of reducing the harms of dagga use.

Stobbs said he was learning from the legalisation of recreational use in California.

He said he and Clarke tried to learn from other countries’ legislation to propose answers for South Africa. He noted: “Basically, one in five Americans [who live in the state of California] can now purchase a legal drug that is still banned by the federal government.”

But Stobbs was heavily critical of the highly regulated environment in California‚ where dope is now legal but laws include restrictions on the sale of dagga at a strip joint and banning it in edible food infused with coffee.

However‚ Stobbs said it was better that weed was legal. “There is no perfect piece of legislation.”

The main legislation on the recreational use of dagga, titled Bureau of Cannabis Control Notice of Approval of Emergency Regulatory Action & Final Text of Regulations‚ runs to 219 pages.

The regulations detail the growing‚ testing‚ delivery and sale of dagga down to how it can be sold at events or American fairs.

The regulations ban the use of a drone for delivery, saying dagga cannot be transported in an unmanned vehicle.

It has to be delivered person-to-person in an enclosed motor vehicle‚ prohibiting bicycle delivery‚ notes website Alternet.

The laws ban edible food with dagga containing nicotine‚ alcohol or caffeine‚ so a coffee-flavoured dagga-cookie would be banned.

Regulations state: “Edible products cannot be shaped like a human‚ animal‚ insect or fruit.”

Also Californians will not be eating beef with weed. “Some potentially hazardous foods‚ such as meat and seafood‚ and other products requiring refrigeration‚ are prohibited for sale as cannabis products.”

Stobbs wondered who in California thought of the idea that dagga could not be sold at strip clubs.

A shop licensed to sell dagga cannot be within 183 metres of a school‚ in a bid to protect children from exposure.

Stobbs said the heavy California taxes and cost of licences to sell dagga would double the price of weed in the US state.

“People will start guerrilla-growing as they always have.”

He said this was a lesson to South Africa that if dagga was legalised and then overtaxed‚ people would not use the legal market. –