Traditional healers: Weed is good for our patients, legalise it

If dagga is legalised, it could be used to heal society. Traditional healers say they should know, as they also occasionally smoke it.

This is the message they brought with them yesterday when they came in their hundreds to support the so-called ‘dagga couple’ in a landmark case at Pretoria High Court, where the couple is arguing to have the herb legalised.

The case, mired in controversy, with the couple having opposed the court’s decision to bar live coverage, was postponed to 2018. The traditional healers, unlike groups opposed to the Myrtle Clarke and Jules Stobbs court case, were not funded by the Gauteng department of social development to picket.

Healer Nelisiwe Mkhabela is quoted by Pretoria News as having said: “Dagga is one of the traditional herbs used to heal different illnesses,” and explained it was prescribed for patients suffering from respiratory, gastrointestinal and nervous system problems.

The healers also said marijuana was used on patients suffering from blood pressure, allergies, cancer, cough, diarrhoea, headache, back pain, arthritis, asthma, and supported the ‘dagga couple’ in their bid to legalise it, as they faced the same prospects of being arrested as the couple.

READ MORE: Christian party on the warpath over dagga ruling

The healers are reported to have handed pamphlets to passers-by declaring: “It [dagga] does not only heal the body, but also heals your soul,” an action that also coincides with the commemoration of African Traditional Medicine Month activities.

The state has filed 4 000 pages of documents, and enlisted services of a neuro-psychopharmacologist and a “specialist in problematic use of drugs from Uruguay”, a move that delayed the case as the couple applied for the exclusion of “irrelevant expert annexes, summaries and articles” from being presented as evidence in court.

In a landmark ruling earlier this year, Cape Town High Court Judge Dennis Davis declared invalid the legislation that deemed the recreational use of the plant by adults in their private homes illegal. Parliament was ordered, within 24 months, to amend the laws pertaining to the usage of the herb to be consistent with the constitution.

This decision was highly criticised by the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), arguing there was no reliable international scientific evidence that corroborated claims that dagga did not have long-term effects.

http://https://www.citizen.co.za/news/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-dagga-couple/

For more news your way, follow The Citizen on Facebook and Twitter.