BREAKING NEWS–CA Supreme Court Strikes Down Medical Marijuana Limits

Unanimously the California Supreme Court struck down a law that looked to impose limits on the amount of weed a medical patient can legally possess! As a result of the voter-approved Proposition 215, passed in 1996, patients with a doctor’s recommendation were allowed to possess an unspecified amount of marijuana.

In 2003, there was this Legislation created to give law enforcement a guideline on when to make marijuana possession busts. The Legislature decided that patients could have up to 8 ounces of dried marijuana and grow as many as six mature or 12 immature plants. The law did allow, however, a patient to have more if a doctor stated that amount was insufficient and individual cities had the power to allow patients to grow and possess more marijuana, but not less.

This morning the California Supreme Court ruled that state lawmakers were wrong to change provisions of the voter-approved Proposition 215. The high court says only voters can change amendments that they’ve added to California’s constitution through the initiative process.

“The California Supreme Court did the right thing by abolishing limits on medical marijuana possession and cultivation,” said Joe Elford, the top lawyer for the marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access. “At the same time, the Court may have left too much discretion to law enforcement in deciding what are reasonable amounts of medicine for patients to possess and cultivate.”

The Supreme Court’s decision this morning was the result of Patrick Kelly’s bust. Kelly, from So Cal, was a qualified medical marijuana patient who was arrested back in October of 2005 for 12 ounces of weed and seven plants when a “confidential informant” snitched on him. CA’s Second Appellate District Court overturned Kelly’s conviction saying that legislatively-imposed limits for possession and cultivation of medical herb are an unconstitutional restriction to a voter approved initiative. Today’s decision upholds that ruling agreeing with Kelly’s attorney and the State Attorney General that medical marijuana limits should be abolished as unconstitutional.

Congratulations medical marijuana patients of the Great State of California…you can now possess and grow as much weed as you need!

- ohhburn

Live blowjobs (just kidding)

JOHANNESBURG - The attack on e.tv for screening an interview with two supposed criminals, apparently intent on making a small fortune from tourists around for the football world cup later this year, is an event of bizarre beauty. The South African police have subpoenaed two staffers from e.tv; the apparent link man between e.tv and the supposed criminals has been found dead in Soweto, after an overdose, so the story goes, of heavy duty rat poison. Swallow that; grubby story to follow soon.

Ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, ANC politicians and their sidekicks have descended into a freebooting hysteria, and gushed out hot gobbledegook in industrial quantities. Police minister Nathi Mthethwa accused e.tv of sensationalism and "harbouring" criminals. ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu has been quoted saying that should e.tv not adhere to the ANC's requests, "they [e.tv] cannot be different from these criminals themselves" and would be "hid[ing] behind journalistic ethics and media freedoms".

This is desperate stuff, all right. But the significant degree of public "free speech" debate around this e.tv issue has been half-cocked, and dripping sick with surly and confused emotion. There has been some sense; about the most useful comment has come from Professor Anton Harber, who put it so: "Journalists should examine, expose and explain criminality and highlight threats, such as those made by these criminals. Sometimes this is awkward and embarrassing for the police".

According to Lindiwe Mazibuko, an MP and a member of the official opposition, "there have been the suggestions from some politicians that journalists in the run-up to the World Cup should engage in ‘patriotic' reporting". The really big issue for e.tv is whether or not the supposed criminals are in fact criminals, a subject that has apparently not arisen for public debate.

The bigger picture is huge; let's focus on just one criminal area, illicit drugs. Not being in the mood for some grubby subpoena, let's refer to information in the public domain. According to the most recent United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report, South Africa is one of the world's major growers - and, more to the point, exporters - of cannabis ("dagga", "boom", "grass", etc). Cannabis is the world's biggest drug, by weight, and is characterized by a high degree of local and intra regional production and distribution.

Countries producing for export remain limited, and are largely excluded to South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Morocco, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Kazakhstan. Cool countries, these. While the availability of cheap and freely-available cannabis will no doubt delight certain attendees of world cup matches, the average South African appears to know as much about the country's leading status as a cannabis exporter as he or she does about what planet mars is made of.

Then there is the status of organised crime. Leaving aside those who review the latest motor vehicle, and newest tourist hotspot, perhaps the most wretched part of working in and around what is loosely known as journalism in South Africa is the near-daily ordeal of dealing with certain people that are all of, or a mixture of, cheap, tasteless, gaudy, gimcrack, bent and twisted. Some of these people are crooks, or, technically, criminals.

Take a smoking gun on one or more of these individuals to the police, or any number of regulatory authorities, and take a bet that the chance of anything materialising runs at about 0.01%. Again, to avoid the goons, just one sample that's in the public domain. Late in 1996, your humble reporter called the Johannesburg bourse, known as the JSE, and complained about securities fraud connected to Randgold & Exploration (R&E), a listed entity, in respect of its acquisition of gold assets in Mali. The JSE laughed it off.

The main character involved was Brett Kebble, later murdered in September 2005. According to summarised forensic reports since published by R&E in the public domain, R&E alone was looted by Kebble and his cronies of R1.9bn in cash, by way of shares stolen from R&E, laundered mainly through JCI (another listed entity), and then sold on the open markets for cash. According to R&E, it was effectively looted of a further R1bn in other ways. To date, not a single direct prosecution has been made. So put that cheap cannabis in your pipe, smoke it, and watch the law enforcement jackboots through the haze, as they rave on with their World Cup spin.

- MoneyWeb

Woman's grassing cops dope thieves

Three Atteridgeville police reservists were arrested after a woman complained that they had stolen her dagga, police said yesterday.

Inspector Daniel Mavimbela said the 37-year-old woman arrived at the Atteridgeville police station complaining about her missing dagga.

"She alleged that the suspects were police officials of which one of them was known to her and was spotted by a witness taking the dagga from the woman's shack."

Mavimbela said three police reservists were questioned but denied any knowledge of the dagga.

Police officers found 60kg of dagga worth an estimated R60 000 at the home of one reservist.

Two other reservists, a man, 26, and woman, 29, were arrested on charges of defeating the ends of justice, corruption and possession of dagga.

The woman who complained was also charged with dealing in drugs. - Sapa

GDP turns the corner with 0.9% growth

A long hoped for recovery in manufacturing has helped South Africa emerge from recession. Statistics SA yesterday reported growth of 0.9 percent in the third quarter, after adjustment for inflation.

Stats SA deputy director-general of economic statistics Rashad Cassim said the figure represented a turning point in the economy, after three consecutive quarters of contraction. But he warned it should be treated with caution.

"It is a seasonally adjusted quarterly change of 0.2 percent, which has been annualised (multiplied by four), which exaggerated the trend," he said.

When gross domestic product (GDP) is measured against the same quarter of last year, the economy contracted by 2.1 percent...
- Business Report

R1m dagga bust in the Eastern Cape

Three men were arrested when police discovered dagga plants worth R1-million in Pola Park near Mthatha, Eastern Cape police said.

The men were arrested on Saturday during an operation in areas around Mthatha which started at 8am until 6.30pm, said spokesman Superintendent Mzukisi Fatyela.

The men aged 21, 30 and 32 would appear in the Mthatha Magistrate's Court on Monday.- Sapa

Matric bust with R1.8m of dagga

East London - A matriculant and three others were arrested at the weekend for being in possession of dagga worth R1.8m, the Daily Dispatch reported on Monday.

Eastern Cape police spokesperson Captain Stephen Marais said the four were arrested on Friday night at a local shop at Chalumna, East London.

The group were in possession of 47 and a half bags of dagga weighing 1.117 tons.

The suspects were aged between 18 and 38.

Marais said the 18-year-old was in Grade 12 and busy writing his matric exams.

The four were expected to appear in the East London Magistrate's Court Monday. - SAPA

SA includes illegal, underground economies in GDP

Statistics South Africa has decided to include illegal and underground economies, when calculating the countries’ gross domestic product.

Cannabis farming will now form part of the agricultural sector while prostitution falls within the personal services sector.

It is understood the inclusion of illegal economies into GDP is already a global practice.

“Theoretically it is absolutely correct to include as much of the production in the economy as possible when you calculate GDP growth, so theoretically there is nothing wrong with including things like dagga sales in your economic statistics,” says Efficient Group Economist Dawie Roodt.

- Eyewitness News

Wikileaks South African CDA Cannabis position paper

Herewith the South African Central Drug Authority Cannabis Position Paper. - Wikileaks

Please note those in charge in “the know” – wrote this paper

SAFERCIA is not responsible for the misrepresentation of the Canadian Senate report; or the glaring absence of number of related deaths; No serious consideration of a drug would exclude the number of deaths... or not.... from that drug

It would pertinent to note that the CDA are the people who reported back to the UN for the 2009 World Drug Report:

The only systematic monitoring of drug use in Africa is taking place in South Africa, based on treatment demand. Data for South Africa suggest that treatment demand for cannabis use increased over the first two quarters of 2008.

Including alcohol, cannabis accounted for 23.5% of substance abuse-related treatment demand in South Africa during this period. - UN World Drug Report 2009 Cannabis Market

Excluding alcohol, What is the demand for cannabis substance abuse treatment?

I thought we were talking about systematic monitoring ... considering 51% of the people that die in South Africa do so DRUNK.

Science chief backs cannabis view

The UK government's chief science adviser has told BBC News that he supports the former chief drugs adviser's scientific view on cannabis.

Professor John Beddington, the UK's chief scientist, would not be drawn on whether the Home Secretary was wrong to sack Professor David Nutt.

David Nutt was chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.

He was fired after using a lecture to say cannabis was less harmful than alcohol and tobacco.

Asked whether he agreed with Professor Nutt's view that cannabis was less harmful than cigarettes and alcohol, Professor Beddington replied: "I think the scientific evidence is absolutely clear cut. I would agree with it."

“ This is a single instance where there has been a problem. In my two years in government there has only been an instance with the ACMD ”
Professor John Beddington

Professor Beddington is the man ultimately responsible for scientific advice in government.

He said that he believed that the sacking had occurred because of a breakdown in trust between Professor Nutt and the Home Secretary Alan Johnson.

"I think it's very difficult - when clearly trust had broken down between the Home Secretary and Professor Nutt - to see how that could go on," he told BBC News.

He stressed the importance placed by government on obtaining clear-cut scientific advice from experts.

He added: "I think it's fair to say we need to make a distinction between scientific advice and evidence - which is the role of experts and scientific committees and the role of ministers - which is to make policy."

Inner workings

He said he did not believe that the incident revealed an underlying problem in the way government used scientific advice.

"There has been a lot of concern in the media that this is in some sense an undermining of the way in which government uses scientific advice. Let me put it in context: there are more than 75 scientific advisory committees," he said.

"This is a single instance where there has been a problem. In my two years in government there has only been an instance with the ACMD."

Professor Beddington said that he would urgently consult with other heads of expert committees to see if they had experienced difficulties in their role.

However, some senior scientists who advise government feel that the Nutt affair is reflective of the inner workings of providing scientific advice in Whitehall.

Many of the advisers I spoke to felt that their committees produce reports whose conclusions are inadequately reported because the publicity is tightly controlled by government press officers. These advisers did not want to be quoted.

Scientists are sometimes required to sign confidentiality agreements - a practise said to exist for commercial reasons. But critics claim the agreements can act as a legal gag on scientists who speak out on government initiatives.

"I'm going to be talking to the advisory committees, I'm going to get feedback from the chairmen. There are going to be cases where there has to be non-disclosure," Professor Beddington said.

"I want to know whether those cases are appropriate - if there is commercial confidentiality or there are sensitivities - or whether they are blanket."

He added: "If there was so many problems, we would not get the quality of scientific advice we get." - BBC NEWS

Kid killed for a joint.

Pretoria police have again been accused of shooting and killing an innocent man, according to a newspaper report.

According to The Sowetan, the family of Kgothatso Ndobe (21) say he had been polishing his shoes when the police arrived and said they wanted to question him and his friend, Xolani Bhoya.

Ndobe apparently panicked and ran away. A trainee officer then shot him in the head.

The trainee officer allegedly fled the scene after he realised what he had done.

Bhoya says the reason Ndobe ran away was because he had been smoking dagga when the police arrived.

Eye-witnesses say a senior officer on scene, Inspector Skosana, refused to call an ambulance or transport Ndobe to hospital.

Later still, officers at the Atteridgeville police station apparently told Bhoya that he could not open a case because the person who was supposed to open it was dead.

The latest shooting comes after Pretoria police shot at the unarmed occupants of a VW Golf last weekend after they mistook the occupants for robbers. A fortnight before that Pretoria police shot and killed Olga Kekana (29) after mistaking her and her companions for hijackers.

- TimesLive

Booze 'more harmful than LSD'

Alcohol and cigarettes were more dangerous than illegal drugs such as cannabis, LSD and ecstasy, the British government's top drugs adviser said yesterday.

Professor David Nutt, of Imperial College London, called for a new system of classifying drugs to enable the public to better understand the relative harm of legal and illegal substances.

Alcohol would rank as the fifth most harmful drug after heroin, cocaine, barbiturates and methadone, he said in a briefing paper for the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at King's College London.

Tobacco would come ninth and dagga, LSD and ecstasy 11th, 14th and 18th respectively. The ranking is based on physical harm, dependence and social harm.

"No one is suggesting drugs are not harmful. The critical question is one of scale and degree," said Nutt, the chairman of the government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.

"We have to accept young people like to experiment with drugs and other potentially harmful activities, and what we should be doing... is protecting them from harm.

"We therefore have to provide more accurate information. If you think that scaring kids will stop them using, you are probably wrong."

Nutt caused controversy earlier this year by saying that taking ecstasy was no more dangerous than horse riding, a claim he repeated in his paper. - Sapa-AFP

Informer rats out cops

The South Gauteng High Court on Tuesday heard how senior organised crime officers raided flats around Gauteng for drugs only to sell them to drug lords.

At one point, a man who had collected the drugs to sell for the officers was arrested by another police unit for drug possession, only to be released without any charges a day later.

This was the testimony of Norman Kokoeng, who told the court he was recruited by Senior Superintendent Dumisani Jwara.

"He called to say he was promoted from Vereeniging to a Senior Superintendent in the West Rand and suggested that he should de-register me as an informant in Vereeniging and register me as his informer in the West Rand... and told me not to worry as we will operate like we did in the Vaal," Kokoeng said.

Once this was done, they and other officers continued to raid residential flats in search for drugs.

"We usually found drugs, money and 419 scam documents... Depending on the amount of money, we sometimes took the cash only and left the drugs," he said.

It was after one of the raids that Kokoeng and another man identified only as Kenneth drove to a church in Mohlakeng, Randfontein, where Captain Victor Jwili gave them drugs including crack, cocaine, mandrax and ecstasy.

Jwili continued conducting the church choir while the two left with the drugs.

Kenneth was later arrested for drug possession, but released without charge a day later - leading to charges of defeating the ends of justice against the three senior police officers on trial.

Senior Superintendent Dumisani Jwara, 43, Captain Landro Mokgosani and Captain Victor Jwili, 38, have pleaded not guilty to 13 charges against them, among them drug dealing, fraud and theft. A fourth accused, Captain Sakhepi Caiphus Shange, died in police custody in July.

- SAPA

New medical marijuana policy issued

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration will not seek to arrest medical marijuana users and suppliers as long as they conform to state laws, under new policy guidelines to be sent to federal prosecutors Monday.

Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state laws.

The new policy is a significant departure from the Bush administration, which insisted it would continue to enforce federal anti-pot laws regardless of state codes.

Fourteen states allow some use of marijuana for medical purposes: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

California is unique among those for the widespread presence of dispensaries -- businesses that sell marijuana and even advertise their services. Colorado also has several dispensaries, and Rhode Island and New Mexico are in the process of licensing providers, according to the Marijuana Policy Project, a group that promotes the decriminalization of marijuana use.

Attorney General Eric Holder said in March that he wanted federal law enforcement officials to pursue those who violate both federal and state law, but it has not been clear how that goal would be put into practice.

A three-page memo spelling out the policy is expected to be sent Monday to federal prosecutors in the 14 states, and also to top officials at the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The memo, the officials said, emphasizes that prosecutors have wide discretion in choosing which cases to pursue, and says it is not a good use of federal manpower to prosecute those who are without a doubt in compliance with state law.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the legal guidance before it is issued.

"This is a major step forward," said Bruce Mirken, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project. "This change in policy moves the federal government dramatically toward respecting scientific and practical reality."

At the same time, the officials said, the government will still prosecute those who use medical marijuana as a cover for other illegal activity. The memo particularly warns that some suspects may hide old-fashioned drug dealing or other crimes behind a medical marijuana business.

In particular, the memo urges prosecutors to pursue marijuana cases which involve violence, the illegal use of firearms, selling pot to minors, money laundering or other crimes.

And while the policy memo describes a change in priorities away from prosecuting medical marijuana cases, it does not rule out the possibility that the federal government could still prosecute someone whose activities are allowed under state law.

The memo, officials said, is designed to give a sense of prosecutorial priorities to U.S. Attorneys in the states that allow medical marijuana. It notes that pot sales in the United States are the largest source of money for violent Mexican drug cartels, but adds that federal law enforcement agencies have limited resources.

Medical marijuana advocates have been anxious to see exactly how the administration would implement candidate Barack Obama's repeated promises to change the policy in situations in which state laws allow the use of medical marijuana.

Shortly after Obama took office, DEA agents raided four dispensaries in Los Angeles, prompting confusion about the government's plans.

- Yahoo Finance

Jails do more harm than good

The government should consider community service for those convicted of non-violent, petty crimes, because most people emerge from jail more damaged than before, Jody Kollapen, former chairperson of the Human Rights Commission, has said.

He was speaking at a public seminar on "Human Rights in African Prisons", at the Centre for the Book last night.

He acknowledged that most South Africans were angry about crime and did not want to be concerned with conditions in prison, but said that doing so was ultimately in everyone's best interests.

Kollapen, who chaired the seminar, said "we should be sending petty offenders to (work at ) hospitals and other organisations where there is a lack of staff and resources".

"These organisations can benefit from people who are doing volunteer work, while the taxpayers do not have to pay their board and lodging," he said.

"It is in our best interests as a society that people are rehabilitated."

Kollapen acknowledged the need for prisons, but said they should be reserved for those who were dangerous, those who raped and murdered, and who should spend the rest of their lives behind bars.

"Let's send people to prison who deserve to be in prison."

Dr Jeremy Sarkin, head of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances in Cape Town, said one in every 700 people in the world was behind bars.

The world's prison population was more than nine million people.

Never before had there been so many problems in penal systems, or such large numbers of people behind bars.

Sarkin emphasised that African prisons were not the worst in the world. Conditions in Latin America, central and eastern Europe, and central Asia were far worse.

Although prisons in Africa were often considered the worst in the world, many other prison systems were more violent and overcrowded. But this did not mean that African prisons were human rights-friendly, Sarkin said.

"Many prisons are in a dilapidated condition and their practices are at odds with human rights standards," he said.

"Africa is home to 53 countries, roughly 3 000 prisons and approximately one million prisoners.

"Most prisons suffer from massive overcrowding, decaying infrastructure, a lack of medical care and hygiene, corruption and violence."

Gideon Morris, who is the director for the Judicial Inspectorate of Prisons, said South Africa should also reconsider legislation on minimum sentences.

He said 68 percent of the prison population in South Africa was serving more than five years.

"If you have more people coming into prison than those leaving, your prisons will continue to fill up until at the end of the day they overflow and there is total breakdown of the system.

"In the next few years we are going to have a serious overcrowding crisis."

- Cape Argus

Popcru puffs up a storm

THE Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) is not known for doing much that is sensible. These are the guys, after all, to whom the South African National Defence Force unionists look when they seek examples on how to run riot, trash a city centre and snack on the hand that feeds them.

For a change, though, Popcru had it right when it this week pushed for the legalisation of dagga. If the South African Police Service abandoned its futile war against rokers, resources would be freed up to focus on more serious crime, said the union at its annual conference.

While the Christian organisation, Doctors for Life, slammed “Potcrew” as opening the door to hard drug use, the union argued that regulation similar to that on alcohol sales would counteract this. It is certainly true that cannabis is less addictive than nicotine and alcohol, and that moderate use poses a negligible danger to health, according to a research review by the British medical journal, The Lancet, a few years ago.

Popcru’s proposal, which has been a regular feature of its congresses for a few years, does nothing more than mirror trends elsewhere in the world towards the legalisation, or at least the decriminalisation, of dagga use.

In spite of draconian drug laws, the use of marijuana — weed, dope, pot, cannabis, Indian hemp, insangu — call it what you will, has increased steadily in every Western country. In Britain 40% of teenagers, 30% of junior hospital doctors, and 20% of university students use it regularly, although interestingly, following decriminalisation, usage among the young has fallen.

Even the rabidly hardline anti-drug United States, where about a third of the U.S. population is estimated to have tried cannabis, allows its use for medical purposes, mainly to counteract the nausea and vomiting that is caused by chemotherapy.

It is the influence of the U.S. that unfortunately makes it highly unlikely that South Africa will ever legalise dope.

The classification in international treaties of cannabis as a dangerous narcotic is the direct result of U.S. pressure. The U.S. buys into the thin-edge-of-the-wedge argument and the massive resources it throws into the “war against drugs” inclines it towards a punitive response towards any country seen as being soft on drugs.

Nevertheless, in South Africa there are sound arguments in favour of legalisation. The most compelling of these is reality.

Dagga is already the most important cash crop along the eastern seaboard. Nationwide it is estimated that the annual turnover in an informal dagga agriculture is twice that of the legal liquor trade.

Dagga is also the ideal indigenous crop. It flourishes in even the poorest soil and as a multibillion rand industry provides a livelihood to many thousands of rural people.

There is no alternative commercial crop that can come close as a substitute in terms of hardiness and the cash income produced.

Imagine the effect on the fiscus if, instead of fruitless expenditure on trying to destroy an industry which the SA Police Service has conceded to be ineradicable, dagga was legalised, controlled and taxed.

This would also relieve the SAPS of being in the unhappy position of not only having to destroy the livelihoods of the poorest of the poor, but because of the centuries-old role of dagga in African society, encouraging a potentially dangerous contempt of the law.

Dagga smokers are no more offensive than tobacco smokers and generally a hell of a lot more benign in their demeanour than those addicted to alcohol.

Nor is the legendary passivity of the dopehead an undesirable trait in a country that bubbles with potentially explosive levels of aggression.

- The Witness

Dagga should be legalised: Popcru

Cosatu's congress could end on a high note, with police union Popcru pushing for dagga to be legalised.

The proposal was due to come up for debate today when delegates debate resolutions.

Popcru general secretary Nkosinathi Theledi told The Star that by legalising dagga, the police would be freed to focus on fighting more serious crime.

If adopted, said Theledi, the proposal would be forwarded to the SAPS top brass for consideration.

"Whether we like it or not, dagga is being used and it should rather be legalised.

"We are saying it should be regulated ... the age limit on who is allowed to use it.

"Research even tells us that there are cases where doctors prescribe dagga for patients with particular ailments.

"If it happens, then this will save police resources - instead of chasing after (dagga sellers and producers), they can look at bigger crime," said Theledi.

Theledi, who says he does not smoke dagga, said he was initially opposed to the idea, but had been persuaded otherwise by his union.

While the use of dagga may encourage some users to try harder drugs, Theledi said regulation - such as that on alcohol sales - should be enforced.

Legalisation would also "empower the people who produce it and will add to the economy", according Theledi, stressing it would be up to congress delegates to debate and finalise the issue.

Meanwhile, Cosatu deputy general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali said that, for the first time, the issue of global warming would feature at the congress.

- Cape Argus

Police break Christiaan's neck for cannabis

A man whose neck was broken during an arrest for possession of dagga in 2006, is suing the government for R7-million in the Cape High Court.

Christiaan Kansanga's case against the Minister of Safety and Security got under way in court this week, with medical professionals giving evidence that severe damage had been done to Kansanga's neck during an arrest on March 6, 2006.

Kasanga's lawyer, Martin Skovgaard-Petersen, said Kasanga had been unable to work since the incident because he had "wobbly legs" and he could only walk for between "300 and 500 metres". He also had a "hanging" right arm, Skovgaard-Petersen said.

Kasanga was 29 at the time of his injury

Kasanga was 29 at the time of his injury.

He said the amount Kasanga was suing for totalled nearly R7-million and included loss of earnings, general damages, as well as future needs which included the costs of assistance, therapy, equipment and any medical treatment he would require as a result of the injury.

In an affidavit made by Kasanga following the arrest, and read out during court proceedings on Thursday, Kasanga alleged that around 9pm on March 6, 2006, he had been walking in Vredendal when a police van had pulled up alongside him.

He said he had walked towards the back of the van when one of the policemen climbed out of the vehicle.

He said he was grabbed by the neck and his head pushed down.

The men stated Kasanga had lost consciousness

One police officer had grabbed him by his right arm, and the other had grabbed his left arm and both officers pushed down together.

Kasanga stated one of the men sat on his buttocks while his face was pushed into the ground.

He then heard a "klap geluid" or clapping sound and felt an intense burning sensation in his neck and felt his lower body was lame.

The two police officers involved, Constable Randal Scheffers and Inspector Jacob Van Nieuwholtz, said in their affidavits they had been on patrol when they spotted Kasanga. They asked him where he was going and he ran away. Their affidavits state they noticed him throwing something away, which they believed was dagga, and gave chase. One of the men grabbed the rucksack on Kasanga's back, causing him to fall forwards.

The men stated Kasanga had lost consciousness and they then loaded him into the police van. When he regained consciousness at the police station, Kasanga told them he had no feeling in his lower limbs and he was transported to hospital.

Renata Wilson, for the Minister of Safety and Security, said it would be the police officers' testimony that Kasanga had fallen when his backpack was grabbed and no pressure had been put on his neck. He had been "wriggling" and attempting to escape when the two men had attempted to bring his hands behind his back to handcuff him and the two officers had no "inkling that a neck had been broken during the arrest".

Wilson said the arrest had been routine, as laid out in the South African Police Service's training manual, and excessive force had not been used.

Medical expert Dr Johan van der Spuy testified that damage at several sites along Kansanga's spine had been noted, most notably damage had been done to the fifth and sixth vertebrae and there was damage and swelling in the soft tissue of the vertebral canal.

Van der Spuy testified that these were the result of a severe flexion force (the force created when pushing the head downwards towards the chest) and a severe extension force (created when pushing the head backwards on the neck to look upwards).

He said significant pressure would have been applied in order to inflict these injuries.

In response to numerous questions from Wilson regarding the likelihood of the injuries resulting from a fall, Van der Spuy said it was "extremely improbable" such an injury could result from a fall on to a flat surface.

Questioned by Wilson as to why no bruising was evident anywhere else on Kasanga's body, Van der Spuy said it was "of no importance whatsoever" that there was no bruising and this could have been the result of the arrest being effected on a patch of grass, which would have provided some form of cushioning.

He also stated a pre-existing narrowing of Kasanga's spinal canal would not have made him more susceptible to a neck injury.

Asked why in all the thousands of arrests made by police officers monthly, only Kasanga's neck was broken, Van der Spuy responded that he could only surmise that in this instance "the mechanics of the arrest" were not standard procedure.

Van der Spuy's claims were backed up by orthopaedic surgeon Dr Jonathan Driver-Jowitt, who stated that the "extensive injuries" would have required "considerable" force to inflict.

He said it was "exceedingly unlikely that this injury would have resulted from a fall on a horizontal surface".

The case will continue on Monday when the defence team will cross-examine Dr Driver-Jowitt.

- Cape Argus

Cannabis a brief history

David Bayever talks KAK again - by allowing his plan to continue to take 70 lives a day

The Western Cape has the highest number of dagga smokers in the country and 42 percent of dagga smokers attending treatment centres are under the age of 20.

The Department of Social Development says 39 percent use methamphetamine (tik) and eight percent use heroin, but alcohol is the most frequently abused substance by young and old.

"We have 9.2 percent of our population - twice that in other parts of the world - who use cannabis. It will be a grave mistake to legalise cannabis as elsewhere in the world," Central Drug Authority (CDA) deputy chairman David Bayever said while addressing the standing committee on community development on Wednesday.

"We legalised alcohol and never mind the money made from it - alcohol is our biggest problem. The cost to society is horrific. We cannot make the same mistake twice."

The statistics Bayever used were based on a 2000 to 2008 report the Medical Research Council did for the department.

At 16 percent, the province has the country's highest rate of binge drinking, particularly among young people and in rural areas.

Tik is the primary drug for 35 percent of all users, followed by alcohol and dagga 28 and 14 percent respectively. Thirteen percent used heroine and six percent cocaine... - Cape Times

.......

David Bayever has been in charge of the CDA for the past few years, and yet fails to account for the increase in deaths due to alcohol on his watch. Quick to lay the blame and not to make the same mistake twice??????????

Daily David 70 people die because of alcohol. Daily David you are in charge of a national pile of bodies 70 deep.

As the video below depicts not one death due to cannabis.

I say this clearly so you can understand.

FUCKOFF with your lies and mistruths!