Head of the Cannabis Working Group Andre du Plessis lit up and smoked what appears to be cannabis on SABC Newsroom show during a live TV interview on Monday.  

Du Plessis  has been part of many campaigns advocating for the legalisation of cannabis in South Africa. He says South Africa is not moving fast enough in terms of legalising cannabis.

Central Drug Authority (CDA) deputy Chairperson David Nayever says the CDA is aware that the legalisation of cannabis is something that needs to be investigated seriously and to looks at what is best for South Africa.  

The CDA is 11 years late in presenting its position paper. Please don’t bring xenophobia into this as a form excuse into being late and doing your job

Cape Town - Thousands of protesters marched through the city on Saturday calling for the legalisation of dagga.

A protester lights what looks like a giant spliff after a pro-cannabis march in Cape Town. Photo: TRACEY ADAMS. 
(Credit: WEEKEND ARGUS)

The crowd of about 5 000 was led by Johannes Berkhout, a champion of the benefits of smoking marijuana, and Jeremy Acton, president of the Dagga Party.

The protesters sang, chanted and waved Rastafarian flags as they called for the right to light up a joint.

They gathered at the corner of Keizersgracht and Tenant Street, marched down Darling Street into Long Street and back down through the Company’s Garden to their original meeting point.

CAPE TOWN – Hundreds of people have gathered in Cape Town ahead of a pro-dagga march.

This follows a series of other marches which are a part of the Global Cannabis campaign.

The group is marching through the streets of Cape Town this afternoon to highlight their desire to have the drug legalised.

The smell of dagga wafts through the air as the crowd prepares to march through the Mother City streets, some smoke, while others are rolling what appears to be dagga cigarettes.

Hundreds are holding placards in support of the campaign, including one that reads, “A high country is a happy country.”

Organisers say there were plans for similar marches in other parts of the country, but they could not secure permits to do so.

The Cannabis Conference held in South Africa on 9 and 10 April 2015 discussed the pros and cons of the use of cannabis (aka marijuana, weed, dagga) for medicinal purposes and along with that the legalisation of marijuana in South Africa became a hotly debated topic.

On Saturday 9 May 2015, the Global Cannabis (legalisation) March will take place in the Cape Town CBD with an estimated 10 000 supporters in tow.

It's an "annual gathering of cannabis enthusiasts and sympathisers, in other words people who feel some kind of affinity for the plant and its liberation," The GCM (Global Cannabis March) website reports.

With marijuana becoming increasingly accepted and legalised in certain international destinations, an Airbnb-type website has been created which helps you look for marijuana-friendly accommodation.

Bud and Breakfast gives users the ability to search for cannabis accommodation and "kush tourism" in countries like Jamaica, Canada, Holland, Uruguay and Spain, as well as the US states Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, California and Hawaii.

"We want to provide an accessible network of accommodations that meet high standards of quality, reliability, and satisfaction for travelers who also enjoy the benefits of this wonderful healing plant marijuana," the site's owners said.

Durban - Dagga could become legal for medicinal purposes as early as three months’ time.

IFP MP Narend Singh told The Independent on Saturday that the change in legislation “could be finalised by the end of July, or August”, cautiously adding: “But you never know.”

Last year his fellow party MP, the late Mario Oriani-Ambrosini, made an urgent call for its legalisation for medicinal use. He had been using it for his lung cancer.

His appeal found an ear in the country’s top office.

“I was touched to see the man I’ve known and worked with for more than 20 years in this condition. I’ve asked the minister of health to look into this matter,” President Jacob Zuma said in Parliament.

... and it could end up on the streets of Britain

• The strain is grown in Swaziland, one of South Africa's poorest states
• It has extremely high concentrations of THC
• South African teens blend it with heroin to produce potent cocktail 

It's the most widely used illegal drug in the world, but does cannabis deserve its reputation as being one of the safest?

Not if you take a look at South Africa, one of the UK's biggest providers of high-strength cannabis, where a potent strain of the plant dubbed 'swazi gold' is wrecking havoc on its young population.

On the 9th and 10th of April 2015, along with medical colleagues from Cape Town, I was invited to make a presentation at a conference in Gauteng titled,Cannabis for Medicine: Yes or No. The conference was organised by the Department of Social Development and the Central Drug Authority and was the government’s first invitation for the public to give their inputs regarding the proposed legalisation of cannabis for medical purposes.

Today isn’t just any Monday – it’s April 20th. Despite the large number of South Africans who celebrate 420, marijuana is illegal in South Africa. Here are some views on the legalisation of cannabis in South Africa.

According to Jeremy Acton, the leader of The Dagga Party of South Africa, cannabis can be used as an energy resource and as an alternative to fossil fuels. “South Africa is on the edge of an irreversible energy and resource crisis that could easily be alleviated by legalising cannabis to allow megascale production of carbon as an alternative to fossil carbon,” Acton said to Connect.

Johannesburg - A party to raise funds for a legal challenge against dagga prohibition laws will be held in Johannesburg on Sunday, cannabis non-profit organisation Green Fields For All said on Saturday.

“This the second year of our 4.20 party, a date 'sacred' to the worldwide cannabis culture,” spokesman Julian Stobbs said.

According to Wikipedia, April 20 - or “4.20” - has become a day of marijuana celebration, particularly in North America.

“We tap into a complete cross-section of South Africa, just as the plant does. It is truly a rainbow crowd of old young, black white, straight, gay, smoker and non-smoker alike.”