Page 93 - Daggabay Magazine Issue 9

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

80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
ALCOHOL OVERALL
HEROIN HARM
CRACK COCAINE
METAMFETAMINE
COCAINE
TOBACCO
AMFETAMINE
CANNABIS HARM
GHB TO
BENZODIAZEPINES OTHERS
KETAMINE
METHADONE
MEPHEDRONE
BUTANE
KHAT
ANABOLOIC STEROIDS HARM
ECSTACY TO
LSD USERS
BUPRENORPHINE
PSILOCYBIN
SCALE OF HARMS

However, it is important to take into account the of tobacco and alcohol regulation, of which there
fact that the development of policies, for example are many in South Africa, particularly as relates
for alcohol and tobacco, are too often rooted in to tobacco and the link between corruption and
commercial interest and not in health or public illegal cigarettes.
interest. There is a long-standing conflict between
the enormous commercial driving forces and Cannabis, being different to alcohol and tobacco
attempts to enforce stricter regulations. on several points, means that regulation must be
administered by a specific department – and not
The right balance needs to be struck between the be lumped together with these more harmful
interests of commerce and public health-based substances, as it was previously with other
regulation. Government intervention, licensing, controlled drugs. Hence the proposal to appoint
pricing and taxation all have precedents set within the Office of the “Cannabis OmBUDsman” to
the alcohol and tobacco industries. Cannabis, oversee the consideration of specifics related to
on the other hand, offers a blank canvas and the plant and its social ties.
the opportunity to introduce evidence-based
regulations from the outset. Let us use these as
benchmarks within the logic of the scale of harms
above. Let us also learn lessons from the failings

CANNABIS IN SOUTH AFRICA • THE PEOPLE’S PLANT • A Full-Spectrum Manifesto For Policy Reform 49