MBABANE – The contentious issue of the legalisation of dagga faces its first real test as a case seeking it to be legalised and be traded has been taken to the High Court.
Former Director of the Swaziland Examinations Council Dr Ben Dlamini wants the High Court to help him get an order that will make government not only legalise cannabis but also allow him to operate a cannabis processing factory in the country.
He wants to set up a national cannabis processing and marketing company, with all growers in the country supplying his factory. He says his factory will then solicit orders from local and international pharmacies. He also states that he would involve international research institutions to conduct research on processed and raw cannabis. Dagga is also referred to as cannabis.
Dlamini has cited as respondents, the Attorney General (AG), Minister of Health, Commissioners of Police and that of Correctional Services, as well as the Director of Public Prosecutions. He has also requested that they add the Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry. The respondents are yet to file their responding papers.
Dlamini wants the AG to amend all laws that criminalise cannabis, but only render illegal the extracts of the plant that contains tetrahydrocannabinol, which is the active ingredient that makes a user high.
Dlamini, who holds a Doctorate in Education, Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Chemistry, argues that cannabis is not a drug and is not addictive. He also claims it is not intoxicating nor is it poisonous. He referred to a number of researches done in the United States of America and in Asia. “This necessitated experiments that were conducted with subjects who smoked cannabis for a given time under controlled conditions, A cannabis smoker will not be bothered, while a cigarette smoker will not allow that to happen,” reads his affidavit.
He also claims that cannabis influences a person to sleep, but is never intoxicated and ‘unable to know what he is doing.’ He further argues that cannabis is safer than alcohol and tobacco. Dlamini alleges that the substance has been used in Africa and Asia since time immemorial. “It is smoked, it is eaten and it is used as an antidote for cases of poisoning. The question of the risk element attached to the use of cannabis will continue to be a matter for the experts, but irrespective of the answer, there exists no just reason to punish cannabis users or those who grow it,” he states in his affidavit.
Dlamini is challenging Section 151 (1) of the Opium and Habit Forming Drugs Act of 1922. The section stipulates that, “In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, habit forming drug or drugs means and includes the following as herein defined – cannabis, dagga, instangu, Indian hemp, under whatever name it may be described, known, sold, supplied or otherwise referred to or dealt with, whether the whole or any portion of the plant and all extracts, tinctures or preparations or admixtures thereon.”
He argues that the statement ‘all extracts, tinctures or preparations or admixtures,’ does not apply to what is happening in the country.
“This is what is done to cannabis in Asia and certainly when the law is amended, these extracts should be proscribed such concentrating THC to form Hashish,” read his papers.
He has given the respondents until December 17, 2010 to file responding papers. The matter is still pending before the High Court.
…wants 10-year exclusive licence
MBABANE – Dr Ben Dlamini has called upon the Minister for Commerce, Industry and Trade to grant him a 10-year exclusive licence to grow dagga.
This is one of the orders he is seeking from the High Court, where he wants to be allowed to establish a factory processing and selling dagga. He argues that dagga has not only been wrongly defined as a drug and also wrongly proscribed so under legislation regulations.
‘No one has died of dagga in 5 000yrs’
MBABANE –Dr Ben Dlamini has alleged that in 5 000 years, no one has died of cannabis anywhere in the world.
He makes this allegation in a section of his court papers where he argues that cannabis is not a drug and neither is it an intoxicant.
“According to the Oxford pocket dictionary, to intoxicate is to make drunk, excite, elate, beyond self control. Unlike alcohol, cannabis users do not lose self control, massive amounts just send them to sleep. Intoxicants are potentially toxic, that is poisonous, with a certain overdose level often dependent on the individual. There has never been a single death directly linked to cannabis use in 5 000 years of history with hundreds of millions of users in the world. There is no toxic amount of cannabis. No animal has died of an overdose of cannabis,” he alleges.
By Linda Jele