‘Dagga couple’ seeks input on ConCourt case

Myrtle Clarke and Julian Stobbs – the so-called ‘dagga couple’ – embroiled in a court fight over legalisation of cannabis‚ want to join a second legal battle. Their case in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) has been postponed until next year‚ but last week they filed an application to the Constitutional Court to be admitted as friends of the court in another case, says a TimesLIVE report. The state is appealing against a finding in March‚ in the Western Cape High Court, that the cultivation and private use of dagga should be legalised‚ and in her affidavit to the Constitutional Court Clarke said she and Stobbs wanted to intervene in the public interest. The Cape Town case was brought by Rastafarian activist Gareth Prince and the Dagga Party‚ led by Jeremy Acton‚ and in its judgment‚ the court found the ban on the personal use of dagga by adults in their homes was an infringement of the constitutional right to privacy. The court gave Parliament 24 months to amend the Drugs and Trafficking Act and Medicines and Related Substance Control Act. Clarke said it was clear from the papers Prince and Acton had filed that they had been prepared ‘without the benefit of the input of counsel or attorneys’. She added: ‘Therefore‚ whilst the arguments advanced and the submissions made ... may‚ to the eye of a lay person‚ appear to be coherent‚ they nonetheless lack the construction and lucidity of argument which would otherwise be present‚ had they had the benefit of counsel’s assistance’. It would be a disservice to the administration of justice if their arguments were not ‘supplemented’ by proper legal argument‚ she said.