Page 134 - Daggabay Magazine Issue 9

Fields of Green for ALL • Collectively Reforming South African Cannabis Laws

This discrimination is a thing of the past at source A “zero-tolerance” blanket prohibition of the
in the USA. The State of Maine forbids the pre- use of Cannabis in the South African workplace
screening of Cannabis users. In fact, employment can now be argued as a violation of the Human
pre-screening for Cannabis is no longer seen as Rights of the Cannabis-using employee as a
a practical strategy in other States of the USA. result of the Constitutional Court ruling. Until a
Given that Cannabis is the most widely used illicit test is developed that is able to calculate whether
substance, failing someone at a pre-employment Cannabis has caused impairment at work, the
Cannabis test is depleting a company’s workforce most effective way of ensuring that Cannabis
options considerably. The City of New York banned is not a problem in the workplace is to have a
Cannabis testing entirely in April 2019. 48 comprehensive policy that seeks to support those
that need help in a non-judgemental way.

5.5.8 Road Safety & “Driving Under The Influence”

Cannabis communities have long been supportive The BDC limit would prove that the person had
of efforts to remove drivers from the road who consumed Cannabis within a period of time (2-6
are actually impaired – but are wary of existing hours) prior to driving and thus there is a higher
methods that police use in identifying likely potential for impairment. It is suggested that a
Cannabis users. For example, profiling of “suspects” maximum BDC limit of >5 nanograms (ng) per
and police roadblocks that have the aim of fulfilling millilitre of blood , and a minimum limit of >2
49
their arrest quotas. Despite the Constitutional nanograms (ng) per millilitre of blood be set. >2ng/
Court judgement, police continue to arrest and ml would be seen as evidence of a minor offence,
incarcerate drivers in possession of Cannabis with accompanied by a fine, no different to a being
no evidence of impairment. fined for speeding or parking offences. BDC results
of >5ng/ml may reflect some level of impairment,
It is important that the topic of “driving under hence can be seen as evidence of a more serious
the influence” (DUI) regulation is framed by the offence, and offenders can be dealt with in the
precedent of alcohol. There are fundamental same manner as those transgressing alcohol laws.
differences that need to be understood to enact
policies that focus on protecting road safety We neither condone or refute the above levels. We
through evidence and sustainable approaches are merely pointing out how arbitrary they are,
rather than on fear, unconstitutional police practice with only a yes or no answer once again, to indicate
and arbitrary policymaking. whether a driver is potentially impaired. Based on
the above limitations, the USA Foundation For
If we look at current South African law, the legal Traffic Safety concluded “a quantitative threshold
blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) limit for driving for per se laws for THC following Cannabis use
is less than 0.05 g per 100 ml of blood, and the cannot be scientifically supported” 50
legal breath-alcohol limit is less than 0.24 mg in
1000 ml of breath. Operating a vehicle over these Drug test machines such as the Drager DrugTest
limits is seen as a very severe criminal offence, 5000 can be employed roadside to verify whether
punishable by having either the offender’s driver’s someone has Cannabis present in their system
licence suspended, massive fines, time in prison, or or not – but cannot be used to test impairment,
a combination of all of the above. as explained above. There is a strong obligation
for law enforcement to prove impairment, and to
It is important to note that this section required apply sanctions on the basis of proven impairment,
rigorous scrutiny and research around international and not the mere presence of Cannabis in the
models. So far, from our research, it would seem blood of the driver.
the trend is in trying to standardise this issue by
setting a BDC (blood drug concentration) limit, THC, the primary psychoactive component of
in the hopes that applying the law will be easier, Cannabis, can indeed impair one’s ability to drive.
and there would be no need to prove impairment. But there are many impacting factors – using

90 CANNABIS IN SOUTH AFRICA • THE PEOPLE’S PLANT • A Full-Spectrum Manifesto For Policy Reform