To all our supporters, old and new…

Firstly we would like to thank everybody, once again, for all the support – physical, emotional, financial, spiritual. We are not only doing this for ourselves, we are doing this for all who believe that the laws criminalizing the cannabis plant are irrational, outdated, racist and just plain wrong.

It has been 22 months since our arrest and there is not a day goes by that we are not doing something to further our cause and promote the re-legalisation of dagga in South Africa. We receive hundreds of messages of support and requests for information and help. We endeavour to answer all questions and requests personally. The global cannabis movement is huge, with thousands of organisations and millions of followers. South Africa is not alone with its draconian laws and inhumane enforcement. Things are happening every minute around the world and our job is to keep informed (and keep our supporters informed) of the news from around the world. This has become a full time job for The Dagga Couple. For those of you who are new to our world, we would like to fill you in with some background to our case and who we are.

Julian and I live just outside Johannesburg with our 3 dogs, 1 cat and 4 fish. We run a small hospitality business from home and we also do freelance work in the film industry. Everything we do revolves around creativity, nature and connecting like-minded people in some way. Our whole world was turned upside down at the beginning of August 2010 when the police raided our home at 2am and we were charged with possession and dealing in dagga. The dealing charges have since been dropped but we are still out on R1000 bail each. In May 2011 Justice Bertelsman signed an order in the North Gauteng High Court that struck the case off the roll in the Krugersdorp Magistrate’s Court, pending the outcome of a hearing to decide on the constitutionality of the matter. This hearing will decide whether we get a chance to plead our case in the Constitutional Court.

Our case suffered a setback in Febraury this year when it bacame apparent that the Public Prosecutor in Krugersdorp failed to follow up on the order from the High Court and he issued a warrant for our arrest. We are on good terms with our local police and they informed us to appear in court the next morning without arresting us. The matter was sorted out but cost us R20 000! We are counter-suing the Prosecutor and there is a very small chance that we may get the money back. However, this wasted time and delayed our application for a court date in the North Gauteng High Court. We have also had some challenges in securing the services of an appropriate advocate for our case. As it stands today, we now have to file a reply to the defendant’s plea and this has to be done by an advocate. The defendants are the 7 government departments that we have summonsed to appear in the High Court on charges of unlawful laws.

Next Tuesday, 19 June, we have a meeting with our legal team to move forward on this matter. Our legal team consists of our attorney, Ferdi Hartzenberg and a junior and a senior advocate. This meeting will determine whether we are comfortable with the Senior Council, at which stage we will officially appoint them to our case. We have also secured the services of another attorney who is much more in line with our way of thinking and with the issue in general. He will be acting as a pro bono advisor and liason between us and the guys who charge the big bucks.

In the meantime, life goes on… When we work in the film industry it is impossible to give any time to the case so only one of us can go out to work at one time. We get frustrated at the slow pace of the process through the courts but, at the same time, every step of progress brings with it large bills from the lawyers. It is a catch 22 situation that takes a huge amount of energy. Our case fund is currently with our auditors and we will publish a full report for the last year when he is finished.

Our case has two parts to it that have to run side by side. One side is the legal case and our bid to change the law. The other side is our civil case that has to be in place when the law is changed. We need to show huge support in order for parliament to take us seriously. The “civil” side of things is dependant on you, our supporters. When people ask how they can help, we point out the following four areas:

1.Make a DONATION, however small, into our Constitutional Court Fund (independantly audited).

2. Make sure you have seen our first documentary, ‘DAGGA : THE TRUTH’, on You Tube and share it with EVERYBODY.

3. Make sure you have signed our OFFICIAL PETITION. Stand up and be counted, we have to include ID numbers to make the petition legitimate. All information is encrypted on a secure server. We know that people fear the long arm of the law but if you are serious about helping us, you will sign! Imagine if we got 100 000 signatures!

4. Become a DAGGA COUPLE REP. Particularly if you are in a small town or rural area. We need your help to reach ALL our potential supporters in South Africa. Bear in mind that most people who have never heard of us are not on the internet. You can also add your name to the list to receive email updates.

Looking forward to growing our numbers of supporters every day, thanks for listening!

With love from Myrtle & Julian x