The Cannabis Embassy of South Africa

In South Africa today, literally millions and millions of people smoke, grow, trade and use Cannabis. I often hear people say they support the cause and want to see the laws change, but they are afraid to draw attention to themselves or don’t know where to start. They don’t want their friends, colleagues or family to know. They are worried about future employment prospects, or arrest and criminal records, and rightfully so. No one can claim that they are not worried about these possibilities or the stigma currently attached to the Cannabis plant.

Although there is a cost to being an activist, there is a far greater price to pay for being inactive. You see Cannabis does not need your help to be free. Its been banned for over 100 years and is still flourishing. The real person who needs you to become active is yourself!

Today, you may not think your action or inaction will make a difference, but one day, the decision you have sown today will bear its harvest. As a Cannabis user, there is a good possibility that you will have a run-in with the law at some point in your life. When this happens, all the issues you worry about that were mentioned above, such as your friends and family finding out, future job prospects and criminal records will become a reality. Remember, either way, active or inactive, whichever choice you make will have it’s equal consequences.

This is why it is imperative that you become active. Acting today, you will change the laws tomorrow, and in the near future, Cannabis could be fully re-legalised and you will not suffer any of the negative outcomes you currently fear. All it takes is for you to say “No!”. The government would much rather have you cower at home in fear and do nothing. By not telling them to change or justify the laws, why don’t have to do anything. The future is your choice, and when the community speaks with one voice, the government will have no other options but to sit down at the table and change the laws.

So how can you get started? Well all it takes 10 minutes of your time. 10 minutes today will save you months of legal stress, hours sitting in holding cell waiting for your court appearance and the possible future implications currently associated with a Cannabis arrest. You can do this by sending a few e-mails to the government and media, telling your friends who support Cannabis to join the ‘Joint Effort’ campaign by forwarding on this page, comment favourably on negative press articles you see on the net and attending events such as the Global Marijuana March in May to show your support for Cannabis, a plant that has supported you emotionally, medicinally, creatively and in many other ways. Donations of time, money or effort are also appreciated. Design or print a flyer, a poster or advert. Everything helps.

You are all stakeholders in the outcome. Remember, black people, gays and woman all had to fight for their Rights and today you can be a part of the change when it comes to Cannabis, or part of the judicial system in the future. Below is a list of different media organisations and the government and an example of what I asked. 10 minutes is all it takes to change your future.

What should you ask? Here are three questions you can ask that will get the message across and won’t draw attention to yourself.

1.    Why was the public never told about the 1974 Medical College of Virginia Cannabis cancer studies where natural Cannabis herb essential oils were applied to malignant cancer tumours and dissolved them away? This included breast cancer. With food prices souring, why is SA not growing hemp seeds full scale, the most complete single-source food on the planet? (It has all the nutrition a person needs.) With fuel prices increasing and polluting our planet, why are we not using cheap, clean, green, unpatented, production-cost-free methanol biomass fuel made from Cannabis? Why are we protecting fossil fuels and OPEC, and murdering the planet? Why was this information deliberately omitted from the public knowledge when 1 in 4 people have cancer, people are starving and malnourished and the atmosphere/planet is being destroyed by dirty fossil fuels? Cannabis prohibition causes pain, suffering and death and those who support Prohibition are supporting pain, suffering and death.
2.    The basis of any statement must refer to and be founded, not on conjecture, but on the evidence of empirical investigations into people's actual use of the herb. During Apartheid, the government hired their own white racist scientists who claimed they had studied black people and determined that they were too stupid to rule themselves, thus ‘justifying’ Apartheid. The old ANC claimed the government couldn’t make a law and justify it by paying their own scientists government-grants and controlling the parameters of the study. It’s a conflict of interest. Yet today, the government pays their own scientists grants to study synthetic man-made ‘THC/CBD’ chemicals (not herb, not empirical) and the government fully controls the parameters of the studies to then ‘justify’ herb Cannabis Prohibition. (But somehow it’s now not a conflict of interest any more.) How scientific are opinions, emotional, subjective and unsubstantiated nonsensical statements, or studies that do not involve herb Cannabis, or were conducted by government-grant-receiving scientists? Please provide the governments official empirical clinically definitive studies that involved actual human test subjects, actual herb Cannabis plant, and actual use of the herb and real life ‘hands-on’ use. (Hint: the ‘new’ SA government since 1994 has never conducted even one empirical study that shows any legally reasonable harm in comparison.) Cannabis Prohibition is unjustified and illegal according to the constitution and Human Rights laws, and anyone who supports Cannabis Prohibition is supporting illegal, unjustifiable and unconstitutional laws and crime against humanity that is just as oppressive as the Apartheid laws were.
3.    Justify Prohibition. Prohibition creates and funds organised crime (remember Al Capone?). Crime is the GREATEST threat to every South African. Prohibiting Cannabis is funding the crime networks that use the money to bribe the police, customs, the Hawks and the courts (to ‘misfile’ dockets). This corruption admittedly goes all the way up to the highest levels of government (Jackie Selebi) and is reported daily in the media. It is now economically impossible to win a war on crime when the budget for the entire police is R150 billion while just drugs alone are worth R3 trillion untaxed (that does not include all the other incomes generated from the other areas of organised crime like hijacking, house breaking, cash-in-transit heists, business and personal robbery, etc). The highest members of government have been bought-off by the crime syndicates. When a syndicate kingpin is finally identified, they are given full immunity from prosecution and protection by the government (Aglioti). We are never going to even make a dent into this crime tsunami unless we create policies that remove the funding from the crime networks BEFORE they have a chance to use it to bribe the government officials. What other law besides Prohibition (law not action) creates and funds organised crime, protects criminals and increases the danger to the people and corruption of government officials? Even if you believe Cannabis is harmful which it is not, Prohibition causes far greater harm to every single South African. Anyone who supports Cannabis Prohibition is actually supporting crime and corruption.

The official empirical Cannabis herb studies dating back to 1836 are available. If you cannot justify a law in terms of the constitution of South Africa then your laws are illegal. The government has no other choice except to change the laws or face rebellion against tyranny and oppression as a last resort in line with the preamble of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Now is the time to re-legalise Cannabis.
Justin Ballot 

This 3 part series will show you the bigger picture and explain how to deal with the public, the 'scientists', the media and the government and expose the con behind the illegal Prohibition of Cannabis.
Remember, if there was any REAL danger, the government would be able to show it to you empirically (not hypothetically or by using their own, grant-paid 'scientists' (read prostitutes)). The fact that they cannot show you the harm empirically means they are deliberately lying to remove your freedoms which is a crime against humanity that the government must be held accountable for. We can never negotiate with the government until those who implemented and enforced these tyrannical laws are brought to justice.