The bid by SA’s so-called dagga couple – Myrtle Clarke and Julian Stobbs – to have dagga legalised, will finally kick off at the end of July after a battle of more than six years. The couple have been trying for six years to get all documents and expert evidence in order.

But this week Clarke told the Pretoria News that the ‘trial of the plant’ was ready to go ahead after Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) Deputy Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba set down time frames for the submission of the various documents filed in their application.

Dagga will be the focus of the court’s attention for 19 days, as the case had been set down until 25 August. Clarke and Stobbs have evidence from a host of local and international experts, who would present opinions on their behalf, and the submitted experts’ summaries run into more than 3 000 pages already. The couple are now waiting for the government to advise them, by the end of March, how many experts it will be calling. Clarke said thus far they only knew of Dr David Bayever, of the Central Drug Authority, and Professor Shabir Banoo, of the Medicines Control Council. One of the couple’s expert witnesses is Professor Donald Abrams, chief of the Haematology-Oncology Division at San Francisco General Hospital. He has recommended cannabis or its derivatives to patients for a variety of ailments for many decades.

Abrams is of the opinion that cannabis has been proven to assist in the management of painful HIV-associated ailments. The couple will argue that the state has no business regulating what an individual does, but the government says it does, as ‘the use and possession of cannabis is harmful to the health and social well-being of the public’.

Full Pretoria News report