Fields of Green for All, is Africa's most influential cannabis lobby group. It's been central to efforts to legalize cannabis in South Africa and is well-known in communities across the country for mobilizing against cannabis arrests. It's been 100 years since South Africa was one of the prime motivators at the Geneva Opium Convention to include 'Indian hemp' amongst the substances that were soon to be banned internationally. Cannabiz Africa publisher Brett Hilton-Barber caught up Myrtle Clarke (pictured above) of Fields of Green for All to look at the state of play in the South African cannabis industry today.

BHB: Would it be fair to say that the Department of Justice remains the ‘champion of prohibition’ in South Africa today?

MC: One could say so as they are the boss of the cops! However, it is not the whole department per se. The Dept of Justice handled the Privacy Act and that didn’t turn out too badly in the end. It is the cops who are upholding prohibition in order to squeeze as many arrest statistics (read brown envelopes) out of the department’s procrastination / ineptitude as they can.

Most cops know that the law has changed but, because the actual KPIs (key performance index / quotas) haven’t changed they still feel procedurally entitled to arrest people.The real “champions of prohibition” are all of the government officials who have now been given the power to decide but who continue to exhibit gross levels of ignorance around Cannabis, the plant and its uses.

BHB: Do you have any indication that SAPS has heeded the December call by the Human Rights Commission to halt all cannabis arrests?

MC: No they haven’t. The arrests still happen every day around the country. Here at FGA we are grateful to be working closely with the SAHRC on this issue. It is a breakthrough for us to have the ear of such an esteemed Chapter 9 institution. Watch our blog for exciting developments over the next few weeks.

BHB: What do you make of the SA cannabis landscape at the moment in terms of legalization?

MC: I am the first to acknowledge how far we’ve come since the days of 1000 arrests a day. We are well on our way to becoming an example for the rest of Africa and for “developing” countries around the world.

BUT…

Cannabis legalisation is a microcosm of what is happening in our country as a whole. Those with money are charging ahead with impunity while our vulnerable communities, desperate for a spot in the supply chain, are still being harassed by the cops. 

The SA Cannabis Community’s solutions to set up a regulatory framework that concentrates on the light touch needed for a centuries old crop, are only just beginning to be heard.

We can only hope that the next few months bring the long-awaited regulations into our inboxes.

BHB: What’s the status of the Trial of the Plant 2.0?

MC: Still sitting there in Pretoria waiting to see what is left to litigate over. We will only know that when the Dept of Justice publishes the draft regulations. The biggest question left to answer is “How many plants are we going to be allowed to grow?”

But even more important than that is “Who is going to come count my plants?” The cops? Are they going to traipse into the interior of Mpondoland, 3hrs walk from the nearest road, to count plants? We are all equal under the law, after all? Are there going to be criminal sanctions for too many plants or is there going to be an accessible permit system?

BHB: What’s FGFA’s focus going to be on in the year ahead?

MC: Top of the list is, as always, #StopTheCops but our Dagga Private Clubs project is making great progress.

We have no way of telling whether the Club system will be included in the upcoming draft regulations for the CfPPA but we can’t see how the current retail boom can be reined in under the Act in any other way. Unless they suddenly make trade legal, which is unlikely.

Our international projects keep us busy, learning and sharing with others like us around the world. Our Centenary of Cannabis Prohibition project with the Cannabis Embassy is a very important focus this year as we remember how it used to be and that many countries around the world still live in the dark days of prohibition.

We are also excited about being part of SACHIDA – the South African Cannabis and Hemp Industry Development Association. As the advocacy arm of the association and, together with trusted colleagues who have walked this road with us for many years, we are consulting with the DTIC to fill a huge gap in government accountability and regulatory oversight.

BHB: Have you any faith in the resurrection of the Cannabis Master Plan and Government’s commitments to creating a commercial domestic framework for cannabis in SA?

MC: We attended a meeting with the DTIC in December and were given sight of a confidential commercialisation plan. All attendees were promised a report back on progress with this by the end of January but nothing has been forthcoming. The NCMP is overly complicated and misses the mark on so many things.

Yes, there is a commercial domestic framework coming but when and what it will look like is another question.

BHB: The cannabis retail ‘grey zone’ has virtually ‘legalized’ cannabis by openly offering consumers unprecedented choice and appears to be operating mainly with impunity. Is the ‘grey zone’ a good or a bad development?

MC: It’s infuriating for us because so many of the players have no idea what legacy users, traders & cultivators had to go through. The spirit of entrepreneurship and job creation is great but it still seems so unfair that (mostly) poor people bear the brunt of police action.

Here at Fields of Green for ALL we can’t help but think it could have been / still can be, so different. The ‘grey zone’, only in hindsight of course, was inevitable, given the lukewarm judgement of the Constitutional Court in 2018. 

 #