Investors get high on dagga

US investors are getting high on the soaring share prices of dagga companies this year after the US legalised sales in some states.

“The demand for marijuana is insatiable,” said Bruce Perlowin, a once jailed smuggler who is now running Hemp Inc, which is listed on the US Nasdaq exchange. “You have a feeding frenzy for the birth of a new industry.”

The legal dagga market, among the fastest growing in the US, is set to outstrip the cellphone market, say pundits.

Is South Africa missing a trick by not legalising dagga? Jeremy Acton — leader of the Dagga Party — is adamant the plant could be massively beneficial. “From the bottom to the top, the plant has enormous value,” he says.

And it is not just about getting high or helping with cancer. He says the seeds are nutritious, the stems can be chopped up and used to strengthen concrete, and the fibres can be used for carbon fibre technologies.

Petrol, methanol and plastic could also be made from the plant. And then there is the tourism aspect — people would come to indulge in the region’s dagga, the narcotic strength of which is celebrated worldwide. Acton says that dagga goes for about R2 a gram now, but its value could reach R350 a gram.

Were it legalised, the government could regulate the industry and bring it into the tax net. Dagga could then be taxed just as booze and cigarettes are now.

Rough estimates suggest the industry is worth more than R35-billion a year. Legalising and regulating dagga would provide far greater oversight over the substance — allowing authorities to crack down on children using the drug.

In the US, the industry is 10 times the size of South Africa, which partly explains its legalisation. There, 18 states allow the medical use of dagga and 11 permit sales through pharmacies. Two states have legalised its recreational use. —