With the dust now settling around the landmark ConCourt ruling, which decriminalised personal dagga use, everyone’s trying to iron out the details.

We have covered some of the basic questions before – how much, where and whether you can arrive at work grilled – but an announcement by national police commissioner Lieutenant General Khehla Sitole is worth looking at.

According to the Mail & Guardian, Sitole (below) has given law enforcement some instructions that will come as music to many ears:

[He] has instructed the Hawks, all police section heads and commanders of the police training academy not to arrest anyone for the private use, cultivation or possession of cannabis…

In a directive — which the Mail & Guardian has seen and has been sent to all police commanders and division heads at the Hawks — the police are advised to immediately cease the arrest of people found in possession of cannabis while parliament decides on the amount an individual may carry.

That’s right – breathe it in.

Quick reminder, via Sithole, that the use of dagga in a public place is still illegal.

The Mail & Guardian caught wind of the directive via a leak, which means Sithole had more advice for law enforcement:

Sitole further warned police officers not to implement any other directives after the apparent leaking of a document from the Limpopo Hawks. The document set the limit of how much cannabis can be cultivated or possessed privately at three kilograms.

Hold up – personal use set at three kilograms? That’s plenty, even if you’re one of those ‘wake and bake’ types.

I imagine that figure may undergo some revision, but let’s consider this one a win for those who view the criminalisation of a naturally occurring plant to be a complete and utter waste of time.

[source:mg]