Not to ramp up the paranoia, because I’m sure many of you numb the pain of a Monday with a toke towards the end of the day, but some members of the SAPS are still being dicks.

Sorry, I mean some members of the SAPS are still arresting people for possession of dagga. This is despite the Constitutional Court’s September 18 ruling that the cultivation and use of dagga is legal if it is for personal use and if used in private.

In addition, National Police Commissioner General Khehla Sitole recently instructed SA police officers to cease arresting people for private use, which we covered here.

The major issue remains that what qualifies as personal or private use is at the discretion of the police, and therein lies the problem.

Here’s the Daily Maverick:

A case in point is Charmaine Wendy Sinclair’s arrest on 21 September, three days after the ConCourt ruling. The police deemed the 470 grams of cannabis in her possession an illegal amount.

The Hawks stopped her close to the toll gate at Port Shepstone [pictured from the air below] in KZN, as Sinclair was driving home.

“Four vehicles stopped and five armed police officers got out. ‘We believe you have narcotics in the car,’ one of them announced.”

Sinclair was with her daughters, 21 and 12, and a friend. The friend had approximately a kilogram of cannabis on her. Sinclair, a mother of three, claimed she was not handed an arrest or search warrant. The Hawks ripped apart the interior of her car.

Here’s where my blood begins to boil. What was Sinclair doing with the dagga, you ask? Well…

Sinclair intended producing cannabis oil with the marijuana, to help her daughter manage the symptoms of her ailments; she has type I diabetes, lupus and a condition that affects her oesophagus. Cannabis oil requires large amounts of raw cannabis.

The Hawks brought the women and girls to the police station in Port Shepstone, where Sinclair was charged with possession, her friend with dealing and, to Sinclair’s astonishment, they charged her 21-year-old daughter with dealing as well.

“All they found on her was a crusher,” Sinclair explained.

When Sinclair pointed out to the cops that the Constitutional Court had just ruled that possession of dagga in private was legal, the officers denied that it had national application.

“They told us the judgment only applied in Limpopo.”

The three women were released on R2,000 bail each and are expected back in court on 15 October.

Hawks spokesperson Hangwani Mulaudzi confirmed the sequence of events, but claimed Sinclair was arrested for dealing, not possession. Sinclair’s charge sheet, meanwhile, reflects the charge of possession of cannabis. In follow-up correspondence, Mulaudzi said that the courts must decide on her case, if there was a wrongful arrest or not.

Sigh – could law enforcement try and get their story straight?

Those in the know say that it should be relatively easy for Sinclair’s lawyer to get their client acquitted, but there’s still the trauma that comes with such an arrest, as well as the legal costs one incurs to get the charge acquitted.

Worse news, though, for anybody who was arrested before the ruling was handed down. Take for example Aidan Berry, arrested back in March in Port Elizabeth, in a massive sting operation that involved a gang unit, the flying squad, the regular SAPS and the narcotics squad:

“I counted 28 police officers, 14 police cars. There were guys coming through my back door yelling: ‘where are the drugs?’ I showed them the 18 plants I was growing in my garage to make oil. I had another 800 grams of raw cannabis. They were at my property for 6.5 hours and wrecked the place.”

Berry claims the Hawks seized his car, his fiancé’s car, his laptop, tablet and iPhone, items Berry had purchased from revenue generated from his (legal) construction business. The Hawks did not provide a warrant and have not responded to Berry’s queries around the whereabouts of his possessions.

Again, splendid use of police resources.

Berry also states that he has valid reasons for growing his dagga plants:

“I started growing medicinal marijuana after my father died from cancer. I sent a sample of my plants to Durban, to get it tested for medicinal use. Two of my friends, one is a Parkinson’s sufferer and the other has a tumour in his eye, wanted to start using the oil instead of the heavy medication the doctor had prescribed. The Hawks intercepted my shipment,” Berry explained. Shortly after his arrest, Berry’s friend with Parkinson’s died.

“A policeman I know later told me that my arrest was a case of mistaken identity: they thought I was part of the notorious Berry gang in Bethelsdorp, led by the two Berry brothers, who died in a shoot-out in 2016. The leader of the SAPS gang unit asked me during my arrest: ‘Just tell us who the kingpin is.’ I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about.”

If it wasn’t so infuriating, it would be bloody hilarious.

Berry is due to appear before the magistrate on October 17 on charges of dealing.

Even though Vishnu Naidoo, national spokesperson for the SAPS, confirmed that 18 plants and 800 grams would be viewed as personal use, the ConCourt ruling has no retrospective effect.

A sobering stat before we go on our way:

The complete decriminalisation of the herb would free up R3.5-billion in police resources. This could be put to good use in combating the worrying 7% increase in the murder rate, contained in the latest SAPS crime stats…

Perhaps eradicating violence against women and girls will become a more urgent crime fighting goal than prosecuting people who produce cannabis oil? Time will tell.

Let’s hope common sense prevails, because the criminalisation and demonisation of dagga has been going on for far too long.

[source:dailymaverick]