{"id":7657,"date":"2017-08-17T18:32:20","date_gmt":"2017-08-17T18:32:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/?p=6464"},"modified":"2017-08-17T18:32:20","modified_gmt":"2017-08-17T18:32:20","slug":"south-africa-at-cannabis-crossroads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/south-africa-at-cannabis-crossroads\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa At Cannabis Crossroads"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/south-africa-at-cannabis-crossroads\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><p>For one South African mother, cannabis was an illegal drug to warn her son about when he became a teenager: today, she uses it to treat his rare medical condition.<\/p>\n<p>Now the ban on using the drug is being challenged in the High Court, raising the possibility that it could effectively be decriminalized.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I first heard of medical cannabis, I thought they were smoking it because they wanted to get high,\u201d said Susanne, who asked for her real name to be withheld.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThen I had a kid who could actually benefit from it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She remembers the impact that cannabis oil appeared to have on her seven-year-old son, who suffers from Costello syndrome which causes delayed physical and mental development.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA month after he first started taking it we had a family function and they were gobsmacked,\u201d she told AFP.<br \/>\n\u201cFor the first time he played on his own and didn\u2019t need his mummy,\u201d she said, explaining he was prone to restlessness and joint pain as a result of the condition.<\/p>\n<p>Susanne was persuaded to try the oil by Gerd Bader, a South African cannabis advocate, who manufactures concentrated cannabis oil to treat his own multiple sclerosis.<\/p>\n<p>Bader and Susanne are among a growing number of South Africans calling for cannabis \u2014 known locally as \u201cdagga\u201d \u2014 to be legalized for medical purposes.<\/p>\n<p>At the moment, possessing, growing or using marijuana \u2014 even in small quantities \u2014 can lead to jail time, a fine and a criminal record.<\/p>\n<p>However a court in the Western Cape region ruled in March that a ban on cannabis use by adults at home was unconstitutional, effectively decriminalizing it in the province that includes Cape Town.<\/p>\n<p>Globally, the legal status of cannabis varies widely. In Portugal, for example, possession and use is largely decriminalized, while users in Saudi Arabia face the death penalty.<\/p>\n<p><b>\u2013 \u2018Branded a criminal\u2019 \u2013 <\/b><\/p>\n<p>Bader, 49, uses a homemade blasting tube to extract the high-strength oil from cannabis buds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople who are dying now cannot wait until parliament makes a decision in two years \u2014 nobody has two years to wait,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m branded a criminal (by society) for illegally helping people when doctors have given up on them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wish we could come together and show them our expertise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bader, who sells a bottle with 5.5 grams (0.2 ounces) of cannabis oil for 1,600 rand ($120, 100 Euros), is also bullish about the economic benefits of legalizing marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt could be a major revenue source for the taxman. Free the weed, give it to the people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll have an industry like we\u2019ve never had before. It\u2019s like the oil in Arabia \u2014 an industry with no overheads, imagine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Bader, who is wheelchair-bound, claims to have benefitted enormously from medical marijuana, chiefly as pain relief.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was dying with my condition but it\u2019s brought my life back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><b>\u2013 Not universally beneficial \u2013<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The country\u2019s Medical Research Council has already launched trials to help guarantee quality, consistency and standards, according to local media.<\/p>\n<p>But Shaun Shelly, a drug policy researcher at the University of Pretoria, warned that medicinal cannabis would not benefit everyone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve kind of swung the pendulum (so) everybody thinks that cannabis use for everybody is perfectly safe and is going to have no problems \u2014 and that\u2019s not true,\u201d he told AFP.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor some people who have got propensity to psychotic disorders, using high-THC (the psychoactive component of marijuana) cannabis is not good.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to realize that cannabis can be useful to some people and poison to others.\u201d Mayo Clinic doctor J. Michael Bostwick argued in a 2012 paper that \u201ccannabis use lacks the scientific legitimacy\u201d of thorough trials.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt has become an option of last resort for those for whom available pharmaceuticals have proven ineffective,\u201d added the psychiatrist at the US-based world-renowned hospital.<\/p>\n<p><b>\u2013 Breakthrough court case? \u2013 <\/b><\/p>\n<p>Susanne\u2019s son is one of those for whom mainstream medicines have fallen short.<\/p>\n<p>As well as helping to calm him, the cannabis oil eases the pain that he experiences in his unusually flexible joints, a typical symptom of Costello.<\/p>\n<p>She said that, though she had not encountered any legal problems, attention from the authorities remains \u201ca concern\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Susanne, from Johannesburg, spoke to AFP as the High Court case got under way that users hope will change the legal status of cannabis.<\/p>\n<p>Myrtle Clarke and Julian Stobbs \u2014 dubbed \u201cthe dagga couple\u201d \u2014 were arrested in August 2010 for possession and launched the challenge to the constitutionality of the ban in the High Court in Pretoria.<\/p>\n<p>Susanne hopes the case will be a step towards full legalization and medical testing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m suggesting that with this trial happening that we\u2019ll make some headway,\u201d she said, as her son played with a video camera and talked excitedly about a planned trip abroad.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is important medical marijuana is made mainstream so that tests can be conducted \u2014 and for that it needs to be legalized. \u201cBecause of the cannabis oil, I\u2019ve got a new child.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/south-africa-at-cannabis-crossroads.jpg\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n<p>News Moderator: Ron Strider <a href=\"http:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">420 MAGAZINE \u00ae<\/a><br \/>\nFull Article: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vanguardngr.com\/2017\/08\/s-africa-at-cannabis-crossroads\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">S.Africa at cannabis crossroads &#8211; Vanguard News<\/a><br \/>\nContact: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vanguardngr.com\/contactus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">contact us &#8211; Vanguard News<\/a><br \/>\nPhoto Credit: Getty<br \/>\nWebsite: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vanguardngr.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Home &#8211; Vanguard News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For one South African mother, cannabis was an illegal drug to warn her son about when he became a teenager:&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.420magazine.com\/2017\/08\/south-africa-cannabis-crossroads\/\" class=\"read-more\">[Read More]<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1616,9,1,3],"tags":[4184],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7657"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7657\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}