A considerable amount of alarm is felt in South Africa by the spread of dagga smoking. The use of this noxious weed for such a purpose is described in responsible circles as barbarous but, in view of the unrest among the natives, this is not the worst feature of the reprehensible habit. Dagga does not require cultivation, as it grows wild. Years ago the only people who smoked the weed were old Hottentots or bushmen, but the habit has spread, and boys and girls now dope “themselves in this way. It is the root of the weed which is used.

After inhaling deeply a few times, the individual is in the grip of the dagga. The effect varies. Some smokers become unconscious, but of ten, the. man of woman is thrown into a state of wild excitement. The human being becomes a brute, and can not be held responsible for his actions.

The victims are as easily recognisable as the weed! The young men and girls are imperfectly developed, and deficient in: muscular power. They suffer much from nervousness, palpitation, aid insomnia. A man who is hungry may appease his desire for food by using-tobacco, but dagga creates an abnormal appetite. Hysteria follows, and soon afterwards insanity.

Resolutions denouncing dagga smoking have been passed by representative ecclesiastical and temperance conferences; audit is now urged that the matter should be dealt with under a special Act, which would impose very severe fines (with alternative imprisonment), to be doubled for each succeeding offence, upon any person permitting the plant to exist upon land owned or occupied by him; being found in possession of any portion of the plant or found guilty of aiding and abetting in the smuggling of dagga into the Union.

The Kadina and Wallaroo Times (SA : 1888 – 1954), Wednesday 25 May 1921, page 1