Page 52 - Daggabay Magazine Issue 10

Then it happened..... Criminal Law 101 ….
From LLB Law Degree to Dagga Farmer
this is a brief story of Taran-Mae Greyling,
better known as “The Dagga Duchess”
Being brought up in the lush small town
of Hillcrest in KZN you would think that I
was smoking Durban Poison on the
beaches with the surfers for years....but
my relationship with Our Miracle Plant
started In a much more beautifully ironic
way. Having left my small town for
Stellenbosch University ready to study
and become what I'd been dreaming of
since I watched Jim Carry's Movie Liar
Liar - A Lawyer.
It was at Metanoia residence, in my first
year studying LLB that sweet Mary Jane
and I were introduced, at first I puffed, too
afraid to inhale completely , giggling and
laughing. I made new friends, some to this
day I am still very close with .
Prince v President of the Law Society of the
Cape of Good Hope (CCT36/00) [2002] – This
case, where Gareth Prince fought for his
right to smoke cannabis as it formed a part
of his religion and still be a practicing
attorney, and lossed. Weed is a drug – that
was the state's view...It was made very clear
in that lecture hall right there... Our Justice
system is flawed...
I struggled through the course continuously
questioning the system I was going to spend
my life protecting and enforcing in a court
of law. I would have to lock people up for
smoking the same plant I do ? So finally
once entering the workforce – yes at a law
clinic, the rebel in me grew, I knew I
couldn't and wouldn't do that for long,
drafting affidavits, timing and billing and
numerous case studies... I moved to a career
in marketing, and although I disappointed
my family and wasted a fair amount on
University fees and text books my Soul felt
lighter – Dreadlocks and all.
It was around this time 2010, I found out
about the Dagga Couple, Jules and Myrtle
and there decision to fight the unjust
cannabis laws in SA. By this stage I was
consuming cannabis on a daily basis and
had realised for myself that a whole lot of
bullshitting has been going on for hundreds
of years. I was immersing myself into every
and any source of cannabis in order to
better educate myself, knowledge is power.