Page 78 - Daggabay Magazine Issue 9
P. 78

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



            It is also impossible to establish how many citizens   as probably carcinogenic to humans by the
            are currently being incarcerated for Cannabis      International Agency for Research on Cancer of
            offenses. The issue of actual reparations for      the WHO, in the aerial spraying of Cannabis crops
            harm done through criminalisation over the past    to control the illicit cultivation of Cannabis”
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            100 years is a contentious one, given South Africa’s   after receiving a documented submission by a
            current political climate. This does not mean that   Umzimvubu Farmers Support Network from
            this should not be considered. As mentioned        the Pondoland region . The Committee not only
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            above, South Africa has the technological expertise   recommended to the South African government to
            to establish prisoner numbers and to set up a      “suspend such aerial spraying” but also proposed
            system for the cancellation of previous convictions.   a way forward to integrate Cannabis farmers into
            The authorities will need to be supported in both   the legal economy, proposing to “offer alternative
            designing and implementing this system and         development programmes to the affected
            there must be the political will to see this through.  communities to encourage them to abandon
                                                               the illicit cultivation of Cannabis, including the
            Historical injustices relating to Cannabis         possibility of participating in the medical Cannabis
            prohibition and, in particular, to farming         market through a licensing programme for small-
            communities living in the former “Bantustans”,     scale community farmers.” A pilot programme of
            must be considered for urgent remedy. In           this kind was launched in August 2019 in Jamaica ,
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            consideration of the economic climate in South     but any success in this program is yet to be seen.
            Africa at present, it would not be fortuitous to
            claim financial reparation at the outset. There are   Alternative Development (AD) programmes
            many ways in which our current government can      are often proposed as a way for authorities to
            compensate those who have been wronged.            “encourage producers of drug crops to shift to
                                                               remunerative alternative crops” . AD has often
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            The scope of historical injustices and Human       been seen as meaning 1) eradication of Cannabis
            Rights violations-related remedies and reparations   crops and 2) grants to plant other types of crops
            must cover (but not be limited to):                (often rice, cacao, coffee, etc.) however AD is simply
            •  Prisoners of prohibition (Liberation,           the transition from illegal crops to legal crops,
               reintegration measures, incentives for inclusion   not necessarily excluding legal “drug-crops” .
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               in legal markets),                              If Cannabis is being regulated, AD should be
            •  Victims of crop fumigations and aerial          implemented and it should target legal Cannabis
               spraying  (Full health care coverage, in-       production as an outcome of the programmes.
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               depth health checks, community rights to soil   In 2013, the Ambassador of South Africa declared
               evaluation and decontamination, incentives for
               legal markets, etc.), including collateral victims   at the United Nations that the government was
               not directly related to Cannabis cultivation, but   considering “alternative development strategies
               also affected by the destruction of their crops,   that invest in the infrastructure and equipment
               the contamination of their environment or their   needed to support the social and human
                                                               development of rural populations, whose livelihood
               own health,                                     is dependent on the Cannabis plant.”  It is time
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            •  Other victims of prohibition should also benefit   to use AD programmes and funding streams to
               from State incentives for facilitated insertion   provide a remedy for the victims of prohibition,
               into legally regulated Cannabis markets.        particularly those affected by crop-eradication
            In late 2018, the UN Committee on Economic,        measures and related environmental impacts –
            Social and Cultural Rights expressed its concerns   and to prioritise reintegrating them into the new
            “about the use of glyphosate, which was classified   legal economy.















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