South African ConCourt rules that personal use of dagga is not a criminal offence
The Constitutional Court has ruled that the personal use of dagga is not a criminal offence.
"The right to privacy is not confined to a home or private dwelling. It will not be a criminal offence for an adult person to use or be in possession of cannabis in private space," Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo said on Tuesday.
The ruling follows a Western Cape High Court judgment that the possession, cultivation and use of dagga for private use was allowed. Key laws debated in the Western Cape High Court in 2017 were the Drugs Act sections 4 (b) and 5 (b) as well as section 22A of the Medicines Act.
Zondo took the view that it should be the left to Parliament to decide on the quantity of cannabis that an adult person may use, possess or cultivate in order for it to amount to "personal use".
Which could be good news for those wishing to use cannabis for health treatments (obviously smoking it is not going to be a healthy way of doing that). Interesting though how times change though as this ruling would never have happened 10 or 20 years back. The unanswered challenge is how the individual will source their cannabis if it cannot be legally dealt. Personally, I'd also hope it breaks the back of petty criminal drug dealing and let the police focus on serious drug offences.
#cannabis #dagga #cancer #southafrica
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ConCourt rules that personal use of dagga is not a criminal offence The Constitutional Court has ruled that the personal use of dagga in a private space is not a criminal offence. |