Johannesburg | Friday
SOUTH Africa’s Constitutional Court on Friday rejected an appeal by a Rastafarian to be allowed to smoke dagga, or marijuana, as part of his religion.
Judge-president Arthur Chaskalson said the majority of the bench was not in favour of letting candidate attorney Gareth Prince use the drug.
Prince last year filed an appeal against two laws on the use or abuse of drugs, arguing that the use of dagga was part of the Rastafarian religion.
Rastafarians believe that the late Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie is a living god and regard the Horn of Africa nation as their “promised land”. The movement is strong among descendants of African slaves shipped to the Caribbean.
Prince was denied admission to the Law Society of the Cape of Good Hope because he had two previous convictions for dagga possession and had said he would continue using the drug since it was part of his religion.
Strict Rastafarians, who do not eat meat or drink alcohol or coffee, justify their use of marijuana for spiritual and medical purposes on the basis of Biblical verses.
Chaskalson said most of the Constitutional Court judges felt that if the use of dagga was legalised for Rastafarians, even under certain restrictions, it would make law enforcement difficult elsewhere in the community. – AFP