The police confirmed it has issued a directive on how to go forward dealing with dagga arrests but have not released any information regarding the details. Thus leaving the entire dagga culture, including every daggafarian as well as every South African in limbo.
What if the Dagga Couple is right?
Maybe the Dagga Couple was right after all or just maybe it is an elaborate hoax. One thing is for certain; without an official public statement from the police, possessing large quantities of dagga is a gamble.
In the first scenario, which sounds too good to be true, it could possibly be that the Hawks did not want dagga peddlers to know the magical number they can use to fly under the radar to avoid arrests, by keeping their supply to less than 3kg per peddler.
In that case it could be wise for peddlers to adjust their supply accordingly, however, as demonstrated by a lady who was arrested a few days ago for just 1.5kg it is not a guarantee that the procedures set out in the “leaked” document is being applied by all police stations across South Africa or whether they issued an entirely different directive.
In the end, the decision to arrest a person for dagga is left to the judgement of the arresting officer. The use of dagga in public places is still illegal and you can get yourself arrested.
No more arrests, just a summons
Lieutenant General Khehla Sitole told the Mail & Gaurdian that the police should, (instead of making an arrest), rather register a criminal case docket and issue a summons or written notice for the suspect to appear in court.
Read our previous article Dagga Couple’s HotBox Hosts Duped.