Christian Baker, a 23 year old chef from Durban North, pleaded “not guilty” after being charged for possession of dagga in May this year. He claimed it was not “morally possible” to admit to any crime when there was “no apparent victim of the alleged crime and it can and will be shown in defence that the law against dagga is unjust and unjustifiable”.

I, John Lawrence Strydom, will not plead guilty because it is not morally possible to admit to any alleged crime when

1. There is no apparent victim of the alleged crime, and
2. It can and will be shown in defense that the law against Dagga is unjust, and unjustifiable, and is motivated and sponsored by vested corporate money interests and the collusive interests of the State, and by foreign influence upon the State.

He is the latest member of Iqela Lentsango, the Dagga Party of South Africa, and now has 60 days to present his defence to the nation’s Constitutional Court. Christian aims to challenge the constitutionality of provisions in the Drugs and Trafficking Act. He argued that South Africans growing weed in their gardens would help destroy the illegal market and the cartels who controlled it.

Christiaan is a stoner and smokes daily and eats marijuana seeds, which he says are a high source of protein and amino acid.

I have been smoking dagga for years without harm … I sometimes eat it for its known medical benefits and part of my own spiritual beliefs and practice … I eat the seeds as part of my diet and as a health supplement due to research into the medical benefits and economic potential of cannabis,

The province removed the charges, but he requested that they be stayed so he could present his case to the constitutional court in Cape Town. There are 19 cases that have been stayed pending the resolution of these challenges to dagga prohibition at Constitutional Court.

How absurd is a law that seeks to classify a plant as a crime, as if there were something feloniously wrong with nature?” – Jim Staples.

[source: marijuanapolitics]