Jacob Redmond
Well-Known Member
For the last three weeks or so, the South African Police Services (SAPS) have been fixated with spraying the Eastern Cape's dagga (cannabis) plantations as part of a campaign which they describe as "nipping the problem in the bud."
The reality of the situation is that the SAPS have been acting in a grossly irresponsible manner. They have been poisoning the land and its people while wasting both the tax payer's money and their resources. Their ongoing obsession with the elimination of dagga from our streets is a frivolous exercise while their persecution of impoverished rural subsistence farmers trying desperately to scrape a living makes a mockery of the term Ubuntu. It is reminiscent of an apartheid mentality and clearly shows that our police haven't the foggiest clue as to where their priorities lie. Since this is the case, it also becomes evident that whoever is in charge of authorizing this wasteful expenditure is incompetent at their job and should be replaced.
To begin, the police are using two predominant herbicides. These are Kilo Max and RoundUp. Both contain the active ingredient Glyphosate. Although the intention is to kill the dagga plants with this chemical, the police are inadvertently creating far bigger problems for themselves. With its use in agriculture, weed resistance to Glycophate becomes an issue and is being increasingly reported all over the world. The effects of Glycophate on both humans as well as the environment cannot be understated and should be of real concern to anyone who is capable of mental process.
Herbicides containing Glycophate kill off broad leaved plants and grasses. As the police helicopters fly around spraying these chemical mixtures, many of the common vegetable crops, certain shrubs and most trees that get indiscriminately infected along with the dagga will be eliminated too. This leaves the topsoil exposed and, without plant cover, massive soil erosion takes place. Without plant roots to bond the soil and absorb rainwater, runoff from the surrounding hills can even lead to devastating floods. The rural subsistence farmers who rely on both their vegetable crops to survive as well as their dagga crops to make ends meet are now left without food or income. Their only option remaining is to turn to a life of serious crime; crime that more often than not is accompanied by violence.
When using Glysophate, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandates the wearing of protective clothing. The EPA also instructs users not to re-enter treated fields for at least 4 hours and warns against any inhalation of the product. In 2002 the European Commission concluded that there is equivocal evidence suggesting a relationship between glyphosate exposure during pregnancy and cardiovascular malformations. However, witnesses have confirmed reports of SAPS helicopters spraying both livestock and people. These reports include a heartrending story whereby police in helicopters deliberately sprayed an old woman who ran into her fields while waving a white flag, begging for their mercy. Could our police be any more fascist if they tried?
If one looks at a historical timeline it will be seen that dagga has been smoked in Africa for thousands of years. It has been bartered and traded for centuries. In fact, one of the theories as to why Dingaan murdered Piet Retief is because of dagga. Upon the successful return of the king's stolen cattle, Dingaan rewarded the boers by presenting them with an amount of the herb. The boers were not happy with the quantity and demanded more. An argument broke out which led to a fight. Dingaan yelled `Bulalani abatagati' (kill the wizards) and the rest is history.
Dagga was officially banned in South Africa as recently as 1928; a mere three years after Afrikaans became recognized as an official language. While it may have been a prohibited substance to theaverage citizen, its use among migrant mineworkers was secretly encouraged by the Apartheid regime. Studies showed that workers who had smoked a small quantity proved to be more productive when working in the mines. With SA under international boycotts at the time, gold is what kept the country going. The government needed that gold to stave off bankruptcy and so turned a blind eye.
Dagga is not a drug any more than cigarettes are. It is certainly far less addictive than tobacco and has been proven to be less harmful than alcohol. So why is it illegal?
Universally, the banning of dagga began with racism and oppression. The indigenous people's rights to smoke it were trampled on by invading colonialists who were ignorant and indeed fearful of its effects. In order to show their supremacy over the locals they began victimizing anyone who smoked it.
Another reason it is banned is to protect the corporate profits of the timber, cotton and tobacco industries. Dagga plants produce large amounts of fibre. Material made from hemp competes more than favourably with its cotton counterparts. Dagga fibres also produce a better quality paper than timber. Unlike tobacco, a crop which requires extensive industrial machinery to deliver the final product, a single dagga plant grown in the backyard under the most basic conditions can provide for a happy smoke. This makes it difficult for government to control and subsequently to tax, a point that the tobacco industry is quick to mention every time any government considers decriminalization.
Irresponsible tabloid style journalism where facts on dagga were badly misrepresented, if not completely distorted, only served to entrench negative attitudes. Greedy politicians hungry for power capitalized on public fears and misconceptions in order to further their careers, while the balance was left to ignorant, incompetent and corrupt legislators to make a harmless, useful and common weed illegal.
These are the only reasons why dagga is prohibited. Not because it is harmful. It isn't. It isn't a "gateway drug" and parents desperate to find a scapegoat on which to blame their child's drug addictions should rather look at their own failed parenting skills or point fingers at the tobacco companies, because cigarettes are the leading drug of choice to be experimented with first by most teenagers.
Dagga is deeply ingrained in all of Africa's cultures and traditions. It is used by both sexes from all races and across all age groups. Members of every profession smoke it, including upstanding citizens who contribute meaningfully to society. Even Nelson Mandela admitted to smoking dagga and, unlike Bill Clinton, he inhaled. Spraying it and poisoning the people in an attempt to get rid of it is pathetic, costly and futile. The best the SAPS can hope to achieve from this inane exercise is to open doors for massive civil cases from people who have been poisoned as a result of their negligent actions. These cases could potentially bankrupt the SAPS. It is high time the SAPS (and governments the world over) realized that dagga is not going to go away. It has always been around and it is here to stay. A superfluous prohibition is not going to change people's attitudes towards it. Aside from being met with resistance, making dagga illegal simply encourages its use; as more people discover that dagga is not as harmful as they were led to believe, so too will even more people give it a bash. This scenario can be likened to the failings of alcohol prohibition in the United States with which it shares so many similarities it is uncanny.
Speaking of the US, dagga has been decriminalized in the state of Colorado. The following quote taken from Forbes reveals just how much of a financial success the move has proven to be.
"Colorado pulled in $2 million in taxes related to the sale of recreational marijuana...in January 2014 alone. Combined with taxes on sales from medicinal marijuana, the state pulled in nearly $3.5 million in pot-related tax revenue. If that trend continues, the state will see more than $40 million in additional tax dollars in 2014. To put that in perspective, that's approximately 1% of the total annual budgets for Delaware, South Dakota, Montana or West Virginia."
It is a well-known fact that South Africa produces some of the best dagga in the world. With hundreds of years worth of expertise to draw from, as well as having the ideal climate conditions for growing cannabis, our rural farmers are producing a level of quality that could command excellent prices from a very demanding international market. We should be promoting South African dagga as we promote our fine wines. We should patent the term "dagga" in the same way as the French have done with Champaign. Instead, our leaders continue to show an alarming lack of business savvy by sending the cops to kill our cash crop. It doesn't make any sense!
Considering all of the above, for the SAPS to be wasting millions in resources and further damaging their shoddy reputation is more than just lamentable; it is absolutely disgraceful. The money being frittered away on their pointless obsession would be far better spent addressing real concerns. Helicopters could be deployed to protect our rhino from their current crisis and manpower could be allocated towards attending to real issues of crime, for example getting serious narcotics off the streets and addressing the scourge of tik that is taking over our youth.
Sadly, it appears as if our police are too terrified to chase hardened criminals as a Nigerian tik dealer is more likely to shoot at them than any impoverished South African subsistence farmer who grows weeds in order to scrounge a meagre living for his family. They should be ashamed of themselves.
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: High time SAPS got over dagga obsession | News24
Author: Pat Dickens
Contact: News24 Feedback
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: News24, South Africa's premier news source, provides breaking news on national, world, Africa, sport, entertainment, technology & more.
The reality of the situation is that the SAPS have been acting in a grossly irresponsible manner. They have been poisoning the land and its people while wasting both the tax payer's money and their resources. Their ongoing obsession with the elimination of dagga from our streets is a frivolous exercise while their persecution of impoverished rural subsistence farmers trying desperately to scrape a living makes a mockery of the term Ubuntu. It is reminiscent of an apartheid mentality and clearly shows that our police haven't the foggiest clue as to where their priorities lie. Since this is the case, it also becomes evident that whoever is in charge of authorizing this wasteful expenditure is incompetent at their job and should be replaced.
To begin, the police are using two predominant herbicides. These are Kilo Max and RoundUp. Both contain the active ingredient Glyphosate. Although the intention is to kill the dagga plants with this chemical, the police are inadvertently creating far bigger problems for themselves. With its use in agriculture, weed resistance to Glycophate becomes an issue and is being increasingly reported all over the world. The effects of Glycophate on both humans as well as the environment cannot be understated and should be of real concern to anyone who is capable of mental process.
Herbicides containing Glycophate kill off broad leaved plants and grasses. As the police helicopters fly around spraying these chemical mixtures, many of the common vegetable crops, certain shrubs and most trees that get indiscriminately infected along with the dagga will be eliminated too. This leaves the topsoil exposed and, without plant cover, massive soil erosion takes place. Without plant roots to bond the soil and absorb rainwater, runoff from the surrounding hills can even lead to devastating floods. The rural subsistence farmers who rely on both their vegetable crops to survive as well as their dagga crops to make ends meet are now left without food or income. Their only option remaining is to turn to a life of serious crime; crime that more often than not is accompanied by violence.
When using Glysophate, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandates the wearing of protective clothing. The EPA also instructs users not to re-enter treated fields for at least 4 hours and warns against any inhalation of the product. In 2002 the European Commission concluded that there is equivocal evidence suggesting a relationship between glyphosate exposure during pregnancy and cardiovascular malformations. However, witnesses have confirmed reports of SAPS helicopters spraying both livestock and people. These reports include a heartrending story whereby police in helicopters deliberately sprayed an old woman who ran into her fields while waving a white flag, begging for their mercy. Could our police be any more fascist if they tried?
If one looks at a historical timeline it will be seen that dagga has been smoked in Africa for thousands of years. It has been bartered and traded for centuries. In fact, one of the theories as to why Dingaan murdered Piet Retief is because of dagga. Upon the successful return of the king's stolen cattle, Dingaan rewarded the boers by presenting them with an amount of the herb. The boers were not happy with the quantity and demanded more. An argument broke out which led to a fight. Dingaan yelled `Bulalani abatagati' (kill the wizards) and the rest is history.
Dagga was officially banned in South Africa as recently as 1928; a mere three years after Afrikaans became recognized as an official language. While it may have been a prohibited substance to theaverage citizen, its use among migrant mineworkers was secretly encouraged by the Apartheid regime. Studies showed that workers who had smoked a small quantity proved to be more productive when working in the mines. With SA under international boycotts at the time, gold is what kept the country going. The government needed that gold to stave off bankruptcy and so turned a blind eye.
Dagga is not a drug any more than cigarettes are. It is certainly far less addictive than tobacco and has been proven to be less harmful than alcohol. So why is it illegal?
Universally, the banning of dagga began with racism and oppression. The indigenous people's rights to smoke it were trampled on by invading colonialists who were ignorant and indeed fearful of its effects. In order to show their supremacy over the locals they began victimizing anyone who smoked it.
Another reason it is banned is to protect the corporate profits of the timber, cotton and tobacco industries. Dagga plants produce large amounts of fibre. Material made from hemp competes more than favourably with its cotton counterparts. Dagga fibres also produce a better quality paper than timber. Unlike tobacco, a crop which requires extensive industrial machinery to deliver the final product, a single dagga plant grown in the backyard under the most basic conditions can provide for a happy smoke. This makes it difficult for government to control and subsequently to tax, a point that the tobacco industry is quick to mention every time any government considers decriminalization.
Irresponsible tabloid style journalism where facts on dagga were badly misrepresented, if not completely distorted, only served to entrench negative attitudes. Greedy politicians hungry for power capitalized on public fears and misconceptions in order to further their careers, while the balance was left to ignorant, incompetent and corrupt legislators to make a harmless, useful and common weed illegal.
These are the only reasons why dagga is prohibited. Not because it is harmful. It isn't. It isn't a "gateway drug" and parents desperate to find a scapegoat on which to blame their child's drug addictions should rather look at their own failed parenting skills or point fingers at the tobacco companies, because cigarettes are the leading drug of choice to be experimented with first by most teenagers.
Dagga is deeply ingrained in all of Africa's cultures and traditions. It is used by both sexes from all races and across all age groups. Members of every profession smoke it, including upstanding citizens who contribute meaningfully to society. Even Nelson Mandela admitted to smoking dagga and, unlike Bill Clinton, he inhaled. Spraying it and poisoning the people in an attempt to get rid of it is pathetic, costly and futile. The best the SAPS can hope to achieve from this inane exercise is to open doors for massive civil cases from people who have been poisoned as a result of their negligent actions. These cases could potentially bankrupt the SAPS. It is high time the SAPS (and governments the world over) realized that dagga is not going to go away. It has always been around and it is here to stay. A superfluous prohibition is not going to change people's attitudes towards it. Aside from being met with resistance, making dagga illegal simply encourages its use; as more people discover that dagga is not as harmful as they were led to believe, so too will even more people give it a bash. This scenario can be likened to the failings of alcohol prohibition in the United States with which it shares so many similarities it is uncanny.
Speaking of the US, dagga has been decriminalized in the state of Colorado. The following quote taken from Forbes reveals just how much of a financial success the move has proven to be.
"Colorado pulled in $2 million in taxes related to the sale of recreational marijuana...in January 2014 alone. Combined with taxes on sales from medicinal marijuana, the state pulled in nearly $3.5 million in pot-related tax revenue. If that trend continues, the state will see more than $40 million in additional tax dollars in 2014. To put that in perspective, that's approximately 1% of the total annual budgets for Delaware, South Dakota, Montana or West Virginia."
It is a well-known fact that South Africa produces some of the best dagga in the world. With hundreds of years worth of expertise to draw from, as well as having the ideal climate conditions for growing cannabis, our rural farmers are producing a level of quality that could command excellent prices from a very demanding international market. We should be promoting South African dagga as we promote our fine wines. We should patent the term "dagga" in the same way as the French have done with Champaign. Instead, our leaders continue to show an alarming lack of business savvy by sending the cops to kill our cash crop. It doesn't make any sense!
Considering all of the above, for the SAPS to be wasting millions in resources and further damaging their shoddy reputation is more than just lamentable; it is absolutely disgraceful. The money being frittered away on their pointless obsession would be far better spent addressing real concerns. Helicopters could be deployed to protect our rhino from their current crisis and manpower could be allocated towards attending to real issues of crime, for example getting serious narcotics off the streets and addressing the scourge of tik that is taking over our youth.
Sadly, it appears as if our police are too terrified to chase hardened criminals as a Nigerian tik dealer is more likely to shoot at them than any impoverished South African subsistence farmer who grows weeds in order to scrounge a meagre living for his family. They should be ashamed of themselves.
News Moderator: Jacob Redmond 420 MAGAZINE ®
Full Article: High time SAPS got over dagga obsession | News24
Author: Pat Dickens
Contact: News24 Feedback
Photo Credit: None Found
Website: News24, South Africa's premier news source, provides breaking news on national, world, Africa, sport, entertainment, technology & more.
