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VERBAL SUBMISSION by JEREMY ACTON, to the Ministry of Justice, and Parliament, and to the Public, in regard to the proposed Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill 2021.

INTRODUCTION.

  1. My name is Jeremy David Acton and I was a co-plaintiff in the original Western Cape Constitutional Dagga court case which ultimately led to the Confirmation by the Constitutional Court of the Section 14 Privacy right to cultivation and possession of Cannabis for private adult consumption, as expressed in the judgement Case 108/17 CCT.
  1. I hereby register my complete dissatisfaction with the Bill, and the process whereby it has been drafted for presentation to the public. And I REJECT THE BILL IN ITS ENTIRETY. I VETO THIS BILL for my own rights and for the rights of people of the Cannabis Culture in South Africa.
  1. The Bill attempts to impose processes that are OUTSIDE THE AMBIT OF THE JUDGEMENT, and which are expressly forbidden by the judgement.
  1. The Bill is an UNREASONABLE, UNJUSTIFIED, IRRATIONAL and INTENTIONALLY MALICIOUS LIMITATION OF MY RIGHTS which arose from the judgement, and which I currently enjoy, and which I am not prepared to forfeit.
  1. I state outright that I reject and entirely OPPOSE THE BILL’S MENTION OF AMENDMENTS TO THE ROAD TRAFFIC SAFETY ACT to allow the state to impose breathalyser tests for Cannabis. These provisions have never been required in the past and are not supported by any evidence of risks to driving safety, and existing clauses in the Traffic Safety Act already adequately permit prosecution for irresponsible behaviour of drivers.
  1. My inner cannabinoid content is an essential aspect of my Privacy in relation to cannabis, and NOBODY has any right to know my THC levels, nor try to determine those levels, such information is not relevant to as long as I respect the rights of others in society or on public roads.
  1. I also inform the Government of South Africa, including all of Parliament, that I DO NOT CONTRACT WITH THE BILL AT ALL, , and notwithstanding any claim of due process in the drafting of the Bill by by the Parliament, we shall NEVER abide by or comply with the Bill,
  1. The Bill is entirely misdirected in Spirit and in method, and it is the result of an utterly ridiculous and irrational process, in that the drafting of this Bill has been handed by the Constitutional Court to the very Defendant in the Original Constitutional Case who opposed the Actions.
  1. That is like asking the real criminals to become judges, or to act as wolves might do 2 to decide for the rights of sheep. The present process in creating this Bill is therefore logically unacceptable from its very roots and this useless, anti-social, malicious, Drug War-oriented Bill is the clear result.
  1. The Ministry of Justice has always been opposed to Cannabis use by society, and in the Constitutional WC Dagga case, opposed the granting of the rights to Cannabis users, as decided by the Court, and since the judgements, is AGAIN applying the same prohibitionist, controlling fascist policing model as it has always used in the past.
  1. The State has since 1923 prohibited Cannabis and used police state methods to abuse the rights of Citizens, and this proposed Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill intends to do the same.
  1. THE FACTS ABOUT CANNABIS, FOR THE RECORD.

    In the Constitutional case , the State refused to admit, even to the extent of suppressing from the Case Record the Expert Witness testimonies of Mr T. Budden ( Hemp, Industry, Nutrition) and Dr R. Melamedes (a global expert in Cannabinoid Research and Medical Cannabis) , as submitted by myself in the Western Cape High Court. for the Constitutional Dagga Case.

    1. Cannabis provides a number of beneficial resources to Homo sapiens, and other animal species. These benefits of Cannabis include:
      1. The presence of medically beneficial cannabinoids in the plant that regulate the signalling of the human endocannabinoid system, which positively enables homoeostasis (restoration of balance) in the human body, and manages metabolism, and manages immune response and inflammation, and manages the apoptosis of damaged or aged cells in the human body, and which promote the secretion of the beneficial hormones oxytocin and melatonin, and which can be used in pain management, and do generally promote health in humans and animals.
      2. A complete absence of the potential for lethal overdose by ingestion or smoking,
      3. A highly nutritious and high protein seed for human and animal nutrition featuring all the necessary amino acids and fatty acids for health; and
      4. A seed oil that has health supplement and nutritional benefits to humans and animals, and which can be used as a lighting oil, and as a machine oil; and
      5. The longest and strongest plant fibre on Earth, most suited to the production of durable textiles and other useful goods; and
      6. Cellulose hurds from the insides of the sticks which can be made into carbon-neutral methanol, methane, or bioplastics; and
      7. Cannabis stalks which if chopped and mixed with lime and some sand can be used for manufacturing building-blocks in the home construction industry; and
      8. Carbon sequestration services for the cleaning of the atmosphere of the excess carbon pumped into the air by the burning of fossil carbon; and
      9. A potential boost to recreational and health tourism opportunity arising from the visitors to South Africa who seek to experience Cannabis and Cannabis based therapies in different areas of South Africa; and
      10. A water-efficient, productive drought resistant, weed-resistant crop that matures in a very short period of time (3- 3.5 months, with multiple simultaneous economic benefits) and which can be farmed on marginal agricultural land that cannot support other more sensitive crops.

PERSONAL DETERMINATION OF CANNABIS NEEDS

  1. As regards my own personal private Cannabis needs , I personally require: 120gr of dry Cannabis flowers of my choice for smoking per week. Aka 6.24 kg per year. And
  2. 1,2 kg of dry Cannabis flowers per WEEK for sharing with the personal friends in the Cannabis Culture of South Africa. Aka 62.4 kg dry flowers per year, and
  3. at least 60 ml of Full Extract Cannabis Oil per year for the prevention of and treatment of any cancer or other ailments that I may be suffering.
  4. I also require 2-3 ml per week of Full Extract cannabis Oil for recreational private use.
  5. I require 500grams of homegrown Cannabis seed per person in my family per day, PER DAY for our own home nutritional food subsistence in terms of Section 27.1(b) right to access to food., and claim the right to privately cultivate such quantities of plants to fulfil these needs.
  6. I require Cannabis seed for livestock and poultry and fish feed in my animal husbandry activities, and according to the judgement ALL of the above needs may be privately his amount may be privately determined by myself WITHOUT DICTATE OR POLICING by the State.
  7. I require at least 100m3 of Cannabis stalk biomass per year to assist with my home construction needs, or for burning as carbon neutral energy, and to offset my personal carbon footprint.
  8. The necessary number of plants that must be cultivated to fulfil these needs are to be calculated privately by myself and by myself only, in terms of my Section 14 right to Privacy in my determination of my cannabis needs and my right to privately cultivate cannabis for those needs, and my right to store and possess and use the results of my efforts.
  9. I personally and privately estimate that any citizen’s private Cannabis needs will only be fulfilled by cultivation of 2500m2 (0,25 ha) minimum area, and any area less than this must be deemed inadequate for their needs. I presently only cultivate about 100m2 of Cannabis for my private use, which area is presently deemed to be inadequate.
  10. I claim my right to Privately cultivate 2500m2 (0.25 hectares) of Cannabis without abuse of my Privacy by police or the state. I recognise that every other South African should have this same right, and access to the land necessary to cultivate 0.25 ha of cannabis.
  11. The Bill therefore intentionally and maliciously attempts to limit and prescribe the amount of cannabis that a citizen may cultivate or use. It is a declaration of war by the State upon the whole public of South Africa, and upon the cannabis culture of South Africa,
  12. The Bill is not mandated by the Judgement to prescribe to this Cannabis user’s Privacy, nor my Privacy in relation to ANY of my decisions about my cultivation and use of Cannabis, nor EVER enter into my Private garden where I cultivate my Cannabis.
  13. The statement by the State in its submissions, that Private cannabis must needs be invisible to the public in order to be considered private is also rejected with contempt. The boundaries of any person’s property or private space, while possibly being visible from the street are still recognised by law as a private place, and this view of the state regarding the need for cannabis to remain invisible to passing members of the public clearly shows that it has no clue regarding the concept of privacy, or boundaries, or that privacy may easily be explicitly demarcated by signage and limitation of access to the Cannabis private space, even if the cannabis is visible over or through a fence, and the height of that fence is also irrelevant if it clearly demarcates a private place.
  14. The Bill proposes a continuance of the blunt criminal law approach to regulating the use of Cannabis, and attempts to use criminal law processes to dictate to, and reduce, and invade citizens’ new Section 14 rights to the PRIVATE use of Cannabis.
  15. The concept of PRIVACY is the total right to be free of outside interference, and is a place where privacy can by rights be defended, and any place that is subject to surveillance, prescription, or policing by the State is by definition NOT PRIVATE.
  16. A Private place may NOT be subjected to invasion by ANY other entity, whether person or state, and certainly not by proactive policing and crime intelligence action against Cannabis, and its users, which is still mandated by the Illicit Drugs and Trafficking Act and still enabled by the Bill
  17. I state here emphatically that my inner personal Cannabinoid content, and my decisions regarding Cannabis use, cultivation, possession, and processing for my own use are and shall remain utterly outside of any other juristic person’s control, to the extent that I do not impose my use of cannabis or my behaviour upon others to negatively affect their rights.
  18. The Judgement granted us the right to use Cannabis privately and this right starts at the citizen’s initial determination of their needs, and their cultivation for those needs, and the use of the plant for those needs.
  19. All of the human needs met by Cannabis, may in terms of the non-specifics of the Judgement, be privately considered by a citizen in determining their Cannabis needs. The fact that the State is not prepared to acknowledge these facts about the Cannabis resource does not give the State any legitimacy in denying the PRIVATE use of the cannabis plant for ANY these reasons, and the judgement is not limited only to enabling the use of Cannabis for ingestion of Cannabinoids.
  20. Private Adult consumption must include ALL possible aspects of consumption, and this Bill tries to specifically exclude the consumption of Cannabis as nutrition.
  21. If this citizen decides that the cultivation of 50m2 or even 100m2 of Cannabis stalk biomass will fulfil his private personal needs to construct a home or a room with Cannabis fibre blocks and laminated sheeting made at home from cannabis fibres, the shortcomings of the judgement in regard to the use of Cannabis as a DRUG only, do not preclude the private decisions of the citizen to use cannabis for such construction needs, as such decision is a decision that can be privately determined by the citizen, and AS LONG AS the biomass is used for its intended private purpose, the judgement as it was given protects such determination , AND such cultivation, AND subsequent processing, AND possession.
  22. The presumption that quantity of cannabis cultivated is a predetermining measure of any intention to deal in Cannabis, is entirely unfounded, and until a citizen is actually caught publicly dealing in Cannabis as a drug by the police, THE STATE HAS NOTHING TO SAY!!.
  23. Citizens are not presumed guilty of their potential to commit crimes by their appearances only, but only on their exercise of intention to cause harm to others’ rights, and where a citizen privately cultivates cannabis for his own private use, there are NO GROUNDS for presumption of intention to publicly deal in Cannabis as a DRUG, based on the appearances of substantial amounts of cultivation.
  24. HOWEVER, As regarding the judgement’s prohibition of dealing, on the false and unsubstantiated notion of harms cause by Cannabis, the judgement made this decision without ANY evidence of harm proven by the State in the Court case, and as such was irrational and out of order, and again, the State in the form of the Bench of the constitutional court, limited human rights to trade sell exchange ,gift, and beneficial use of the cultivation of Cannabis, on lame and false claim of preventing non specified harms. This aspect of the judgment is also rejected.
  25. The prohibition of Cannabis transactions between private, informed, consenting, self regulating members of the Cannabis Culture is again a violation of rights, and is rejected completely as well, and transactions regarding cannabis should be allowed between citizens in the above social context, Again, the State already has no standing in preventing such PRIVATE transactions which happen every day, ever since the criminal prohibition of cannabis by the traitor Jan Smuts for the British Crown in 1923.
  26. The State also still fails to understand that the continued prohibitions and limitations in the Bill, and their intended enforcement, and the resulting criminal sanctions which include the possibility of imprisonment, all cause harms to citizens that are far, FAR beyond any harms that are EVER caused by Cannabis, and ALL of the state’s intentions are now also clearly oriented toward a continued erosion of citizens’ Section 14 Privacy rights.
  27. The proposed Bill’s limitations of the rights to determine for oneself one’s own Cannabis needs and subsequent cultivation for those needs, are truly ridiculous when viewed in the light of citizen’s’ rights to possess and store and use alcohol in their homes.
  28. Citizens are not limited to possession of only 4 beers or 10 bottles of wine in their home, but may if they wish, possess enough alcohol to kill themselves, so the Bill is not in any way an intelligent and proportional application of limitation of rights to harmful discriminates against Cannabis, which is a relatively harmless substance compared to the harms caused by alcohol..
  29. The Bill also fails to respect democratic principles in that it promotes a police state DRUG WAR approach to its regulatory approach, which includes the possibility of surveillance and intrusion on citizens’ private realms for the counting of plants., and STILL promotes the criminal punishment of citizens for their transgression of arbitrary and irrational limitations on the amounts of plants that may be cultivated by citizens.
  30. The Bill promotes a dictatorial paradigm where the police, (who are considered in public polls to be the most corrupt institution in the country), are encouraged by the Illicit Drugs and Trafficking Act sand this Bill, to pro-actively police Cannabis and to minimise in every possible way, the public enjoyment of the Cannabis plant and its publicly known health benefits. Such proactive policing against cannabis must come to an end for the spirit and the letter for the Constitutional court judgement to be respected.
  31. The Bill promotes the furtherance of Police abuses that continually occur across the country which abuses are known to include:
  • warrant-less forced entry into homes,
  • misuse of informants who operate for monetary gain,
  • assault and even murder of cannabis users,
  • solicitation of bribes from arrested persons to avoid victimisation,
  • unlawful destruction of lawful Cannabis crops,
  • theft of citizens’ equipment used for the cultivation of Cannabis,
  • theft of other private property of citizens during raids.

The judgement explicitly ordered an end to the criminal policing of private cannabis use by adult citizens in their private use of Cannabis, yet this Bill ignores that and clearly facilitates such police actions.

IN Conclusion:

I inform the state that the entire premise of “Cannabis for Private Purposes”, and “Bill” are by virtue of the values and rights expressed in the Constitutional court judgement Case 108/17 CCT, are now two mutually exclusive concepts that have no right to be in any title or any existence of any such proposed legislation, and I hereby declare that this Bill is VETOED by the Cannabis Culture, and is DAMNED, and WILL BE OPPOSED before and after any adoption by Parliament, and any future harms to Human Rights in the Bill of Rights that arise from this Bill will result in prosecution of the state, and all damages arising from this anti-social and harmful Bill shall be recovered from the state.

I call on all South Africans to militantly reject, and ignore the Bill, and tofully claim their PRIVATE Rights to determine their Cannabis needs, to at least cultivate an area of 2500m2 minimum per adult and to plant accordingly , and to MILITANTLY and LEGALLY resist all enforcement of the Bill, and lastly,

I demand that ONLY the Cannabis Culture, as is well represented at these verbal submissions , may draft Cannabis legislation and submit it to the Constitutional Court for consideration of its constitutionality before the REQUIRED adoption by Parliament, and this Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill process is declared terminated forthwith.

JEREMY ACTON

31 August 2021.

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