The Dagga Couple or DC is a pro-

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: ''Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternatively ...

lobbyist organisation from South Africa founded by Julian Stobbs and Myrtle Clarke after the two were arrested for the

possession Possession may refer to: Law * Dependent territory, an area of land over which another country exercises sovereignty, but which does not have the full right of participation in that country's governance * Drug possession, a crime * Ownership * ...

and dealing in the substance in 2010. Rather than plead guilty, the couple decided instead to sue seven sectors of

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

that maintained and enforced the policy of cannabis prohibition in the country resulting in what has been described locally as the ''Trial of the Plant'' in 2017.Link

Times LIVE ''TimesLIVE'' is a South African online newspaper that started as ''The Times'' daily newspaper. ''The Times'' print version was an offshoot of ''Sunday Times'', to whose subscribers it was delivered gratis; non-subscribers paid R2.50 per edi ...

Stobbs was fatally shot during an armed robbery at his home in Sunrella,

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

on 3 July 2020. Clarke, who was with him at the time of the incident, escaped unharmed.

History and arrest

Julian Stobbs, a retired

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

air traffic controller and art director in the television and film industry and Kathleen (Myrtle) Clarke, a freelance art director and former school teacher were arrested after police, acting on a tip-off, raided their home in August 2010. Having more than 115 grams of cannabis ( South African law dictates that anything above 115 grams is considered dealing), they were charged with possession, the intent to sell and faced a lengthy jail time if convicted. They were granted bail and subsequently released. However, according to ENCA, "the two have turned their case on its head, challenging the government to legalise marijuana". They are suing seven government departments on the charges that they are upholding unlawful and unconstitutional laws. Cannabis is considered a Schedule 7 drug in South Africa, along with heroin,

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...

and

methamphetamine Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamph ...

; The Dagga Couple intend to challenge this and many other legal aspects they consider "unjust and irrational, not supported by any empirical evidence and outdated". In line with changing attitudes worldwide, they also believe cannabis does far less damage than

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

or tobacco and that it can be used for medicinal purposes.Everything you need to know about the ‘Dagga Couple’
The Citizen. Retrieved 12 January 2015.Couple campaign to legalise dagga
eNCA. Retrieved 12 January 2015.

Origins of the name

The regional term dagga is commonly used for cannabis and is derived from the Khoikhoi word ''dacha'', which was used by the early European colonial settlers in the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

. After their arrest Stobbs and Clarke became known as "The Dagga Couple" in local media.

Dagga in South Africa

Cannabis is illegal for recreational and medical use in South Africa though some advocates have been pressurising the government to modify its laws, which first restricted cannabis in 1922, to allow exemptions for medical use, religious practices, and other purposes. Cannabis is thought to have been introduced to Africa by early Arab or Indian Hindu travelers, which

Bantu Bantu may refer to: *Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages *Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language * Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle *Black Association for National ...

settlers subsequently introduced to southern Africa when they migrated southward. It was already in popular use in South Africa by the indigenous Khoisan and Bantu peoples prior to European settlement in the Cape in 1652, and was traditionally used by Basotho to ease childbirth. According to author Hazel Crampton, old Afrikaner recipes for teas and foods exist which make use of the plant. Use of the plant was associated with traditional African populations and a lower economic status. Longitudinal research studies by the Medical Research Council (MRC) report that the number of cannabis users in South Africa was 2.2 million in 2004, and 3.2 million in 2008. In 2003,

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

rated South Africa as the fourth-largest cannabis producer in the world, and the

Institute for Security Studies The Institute for Security Studies, also known as ISS or ISS Africa (to distinguish itself from other similarly named institutes in other parts of the world), described itself as follows: "an African organisation which aims to enhance human se ...

reported that most cannabis seized in the UK and a third globally had South African origins.

The Trial of the Plant

Case timeline

Details of legal proceedings

The Dagga Couple are suing the following heads of government departments: * The National Director of Public Prosecutions * The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development * The Minister of

Health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

* The Minister of

Social Development Social development can refer to: * Psychosocial development * Social change * Social development theory * Social Development (journal) * Social emotional development * Social progress or social regress The word decadence, which at first meant ...

* The Minister of International Relations and Cooperation * The Minister of Trade and Industry * The Minister of

Police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

South Africa is known for having one of the most liberal constitutions in the worldIn love with SA's Constitution
Retrieved 13 January 2015. and includes such clauses as the

right to health The right to health is the economic, social, and cultural right to a universal minimum standard of health to which all individuals are entitled. The concept of a right to health has been enumerated in international agreements which include the U ...

and the right to self-medicate. The Dagga Couple are challenging these and other legal issues in their case at the country's highest court, The Constitutional Court. This landmark case will also challenge certain racially based laws pertaining to the plant.Summons to High Court PDF
The Dagga Couple. Retrieved 13 January 2015.The Cannabis Chronicles: Dagga Couple go global
The Daily Maverick. Retrieved 4 September 2017.

Prince/Acton case

On 31 March 2017, in a

case Case or CASE may refer to: Containers * Case (goods), a package of related merchandise * Cartridge case or casing, a firearm cartridge component * Bookcase, a piece of furniture used to store books * Briefcase or attaché case, a narrow box to c ...

against the state brought on by Gareth Prince, Jeremy Acton, and Jonathan Ruben in the Western Cape High Court, presiding Judge Dennis Davis ruled that any law disallowing the use and cultivation of cannabis by an adult in a private dwelling was unconstitutional and therefore invalid, on the grounds that such infringement of the constitutional right to privacy could not be justified. The state subsequently appealed the decision and the case is set to be heard in the constitutional court in November 2017. The Dagga Couple applied in October of the same year to be enlisted as friends of the court to assist Prince and Acton with Clarke stating "The case brought by Prince and Acton was unique in that the matter is one of significant public interest and importance‚ invoking a consideration of a vast number of constitutional rights whilst‚ at the same time‚ all of the protagonists on one side of the argument are not represented by counsel". On 28 October 2017 this application was granted by the constitutional court of South Africa.

Fields of Green for All

Registered in February 2014 and officially launched by the Dagga Couple in December 2014, Fields of Green for All is South Africa's first cannabis-based non-profit organisation aimed at assisting citizens arrested on any cannabis-related offense. By joining, anyone arrested for any cannabis related charge in South Africa will receive all the legal assistance necessary to obtain the stay of prosecution. The idea being that instead of pleading guilty and accepting a criminal record, incarceration or a suspended sentence and a fine, people are taking a stand and declaring themselves not to be criminals.Fields of Green for ALL, homepage
''Fields of Green for All''. Retrieved 19 January 2015.Court set to revisit old dagga legislation
The Citizen. Retrieved 4 September 2017.

International actions

The Dagga Couple attended the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, in Vienna, Austria, on several occasions since December 2018, and took part in inter-governmental discussions (such as the High Level Ministerial Segment of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in March 2019), policy conferences such as the International Cannabis Policy Conference in 2018, and met with representatives of the

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC; French: ''Office des Nations unies contre la drogue et le crime'') is a United Nations office that was established in 1997 as the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention by combining the ...

and the

International Narcotics Control Board The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) is an independent treaty body, one of the four treaty-mandated bodies under international drug control law (alongside the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, UNODC on behalf of the Secretary-General, an ...

. Since May 2021, the non-profit Fields of Green for All has been granted special consultative status with the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the highest status granted by the UN to NGOs. In December 2021, Fields of Green for All took part to, and submitted a statement on behalf of, an action organized by 181

non-governmental organizations A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

addressed to

Secretary-General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

and the

INCB The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) is an independent treaty body, one of the four treaty-mandated bodies under international drug control law (alongside the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, UNODC on behalf of the Secretary-General, an ...

Dagga Private Clubs

In April 2019 Fields of Green for ALL launched the Dagga Private Clubs movement, as a local adaptation of

Cannabis Social Club A Cannabis Social Club (CSC), sometimes called Cannabis Club, Cannabis Association, or Teapad, is an industry model for regulated cannabis organised as non-profit cooperatives in which cannabis is cultivated, shared, and enjoyed collectively, usu ...

s the non-profit small-scale cannabis dispensation system created in Europe.

References

External links

The Dagga Couple home page

Fields of Green for ALL home page

THE DAGGA COUPLE
by Max Barashenkov, 24 February 2012 ''Mahala'' {{Authority control Drug culture Drug policy Drug policy organizations Cannabis law reform organizations Cannabis in South Africa Cannabis prohibition Lobbyists South African culture Cannabis organizations Cannabis activism