I was driving in Green Point, Cape Town late one Saturday night.  I had never had any criminal charges, not even so much as a speeding ticket.  I was just driving home from a relaxed evening chilling at my friends house.

A bakkie was travelling behind me; the driver revved his engine and sped RIGHT up to my back bumper before falling back again.  He did this several times and I thought maybe he was an angry or drunk driver and was going to hit me.  For my own safety, I sped up a bit to get away from him until I got to an intersection where I could turn off the road to get away from him.

To get away, I sped up to about 70km/h in a 60km/h zone.  That’s when the driver pulled up beside me at the same speed and I realized it was a police vehicle.  They shone a BRIGHT STROBE LIGHT into the cab of my bakkie and I had to slam on brakes or I would have slammed into a line of cars parked on the side of the road.  I came to a stop right outside a bunch of clubs where lines of strangers stood staring at what was going on.

They ripped me out of the cab of my bakkie and Cop A started shouting at me about speeding and asking questions about who I am, where I live, where I work, what I was doing in the area, where I went to school, my marital status…  Cop B searched my bakkie and found about 10g (one block) of hashish, some rolling papers, a smoking tin and a small pipe.  Cop A shoved me forward, slamming me on to the bonnet of my bakkie and cuffed my hands behind my back before reading me my rights.

Cop B held the hashish in front of my face and yelled “WHAT IS THIS?!?  WHAT IS THIS SHIT?!?”.  I told him what it was and he laughed at me.  He looked at Cope A and said “fuck man, who’s going to drive this piece of shit bakkie back to the station?”.

All of this had taken about 20 minutes (including the search).  Cop A said something in a language I didn’t understand and then he turned to me and said “we’ve decided to let you go THIS time.  Go STRAIGHT home! If I see you in this area again tonight, you won’t be so lucky!  We’re keeping this SHIT and all your smoking equipment”.

Neither of them identified themselves (there were no badges or ID’s).  There were no blue lights or sirens, there was no request to pull over – just the sudden strobe light flashing in my eyes while I was driving.

I think the reason they started driving badly and harassing me was because I was wearing a black beanie with green/yellow/red stripes (coincidentally the same colors that symbolize Rastafarianism).

I’m smoking dagga for 15 year.never had problem until I moved to the wrong town where corrupt police that has a personal problem with me.now they are trying to make a case against me to accuse me as a drug dealer.I wanted to grown dagga for myself but decided against it so that the police can’t arrest me and ruin my life. infact because of them I probably never get a job in town again.what can we do to legalize dagga cause to be called a criminal for smoking must be the crime.I’m a supporter for dc.I’m married and dagga helps our relationship.