Cape Town - Thousands of protesters marched through the city on Saturday calling for the legalisation of dagga.
The crowd of about 5 000 was led by Johannes Berkhout, a champion of the benefits of smoking marijuana, and Jeremy Acton, president of the Dagga Party.
The protesters sang, chanted and waved Rastafarian flags as they called for the right to light up a joint.
They gathered at the corner of Keizersgracht and Tenant Street, marched down Darling Street into Long Street and back down through the Company’s Garden to their original meeting point.
There a marcher lit what looked like a giant joint but which lacked dagga’s distinctive aroma.
Acton said marijuana had medicinal benefits which could benefit many.
“If this resource was legalised we would have a new source of protein, a new source of medical oils and preventative medicines from the hemp seed, because every joint you smoke is medically beneficial.
“The government allows people to use harmful tobacco and harmful alcohol.
“They don’t treat us cannabis users as equals when our substance is harmless. No one has ever died of a cannabis overdose.”
However, police spokesman Thembinkosi Kinana said marijuana use remained illegal.
“It does not matter how much marijuana you have, you will be arrested. It has not been decriminalised in this country and therefore it remains a criminal offence to even have it on you,” he said.
Jules Stobbs and Myrtle Clarke said their support for dagga was motivated by ethical concerns.
“We are not marching to get stoned, we are marching for our human rights.
“It’s our right to choose what we want to put in our bodies,” said Stobbs.
“Do not get distracted by the medical stories. I have human rights and they are exactly the same as the human rights of a terminally ill patient. Everybody is waxing lyrical about giving the terminally ill patient cannabis.
“Healthy people out there are healthy because you smoke cannabis, so why wait till you are sick?
“I have smoked this plant for 33 years and I attribute my health to this plant. Cigarettes and alcohol are toxic and yet they are legal, I am healthy because of marijuana and yet it is illegal.”
Mary-Anne Dallas, a 60-year-old woman from Bishop Lavis, said she had smoked marijuana for more than 20 years and had never felt better. If it were to be legalised, she would grow her very own garden of weed.
“I am fit because of cannabis, I don’t even go to the doctor as much as my peers. I feel great and I would be one of the first people to plant it in my back yard if it were to be legal.
“The only reason the government is not legalising it is because it would not be as easy to tax as tobacco and alcohol, which are both more dangerous than weed,” said Dallas.
Weekend Argus