Balloons for dagga liberation
2004-05-01 22:49
Cape Town - A group of about 150 Capetonians, waving posters proclaiming "Cannabis Can Make Petrol and Paper", "Go Green" and "Grow with the Flow" marched to the gates of Parliament on Saturday afternoon calling for the legalisation of dagga.
On their arrival, the marchers released a bunch of about a dozen green balloons with alien faces drawn on them; these flew over the wall and into the grounds of the parliamentary complex, where they were quickly gathered up by police.
According to the organisers, the march was intended to highlight "the many uses of the plant cannabis".
These included applications in the agricultural, building and health sectors.
In a statement earlier this week, organiser Andre du Plessis said cannabis, known locally as dagga, "is not only about smoking".
"There are more than a thousand other historically documented uses for this plant, going back thousands of years. More applications are found daily.
"These go across the board, and if we tackle this issue wisely, we can help solve a lot of South Africa's social and health problems.
"We cannot any longer ignore this plant, simply because of its historical association with the drug problem."
Du Plessis, an IT engineer, said it was clear from television and newspaper reports there was an existing and thriving rural agricultural cannabis market in South Africa.
"This market, although illegal, has been in existence for at least 15 years. I can vouch for that," he said.
Two of the participants in Saturday's march tried to hand a petition - titled "The Importance of Cannabis as an Industrial Resource" - to the police at Parliament, but they refused to accept the document, saying Parliament was closed at weekends.
"See, I told you we should have done this on Friday," one marcher said to the other.
The marchers, two of them waving green flags with the image of the characteristic "five-finger" dagga leaf, dispersed soon after.
Police were later seen trying to fit the green balloons into the back of a squad car, although it was not clear what they planned to do with them.
- SAPA