We’ve been on the re-legalisation trail for three years now. We can look back and gauge our progress as time passes by simply looking at our online profile.

We see the surges in our online statistics as big news hits us. Two US states legalising was a surge, so was Uruguay’s news to completely legalise the plant.
Recently there was another surge as President Obama conceded he thought cannabis ‘no more dangerous than alcohol‘.

Of course there are depressions to navigate though. Recent sensationalist headlines of a 31 year UK woman having the unenviable record of being the first person to die of cannabis intoxication was a shock.  The pathologist’s report  has been condemned worldwide by eminent experts and it’s clear the UK tabloids went to town, but nevertheless, there was another beating from the naysayers.

Then one day in February 2014 a very brave Member of Parliament took to the stand on day 2 of the South African Opening Of Parliament. Dr Mario Ambrosini MP (IFP) confessed to the nation he is using a cannabis protocol to manage his terminal lung cancer and was tabling a Bill to address the issue.

Now that’s a surge. We knew it was coming but were still delighted to see the pace of the ‘dagga debate’ quicken.

We’d preempted Dr Ambrosini’s  announcement at our cannabis NPO Fields Of Green For ALL  launch in Johannesburg a number of days earlier. We gave a one hour  presentation which included an edited  5 minute skype video call with Dr Ambrosini briefly explaining his plans. He asked us not to make public the video until he had spoken to Parliament which of course we honoured.

For us, to have a Skype call with a serving member of Parliament was completely surreal and a bit of a blur. This was a big moment we’ve been waiting for;  we’ve dreamed of having a lobbyist in the corridors of parliament but we never once thought it would be a politician.
At that point, we knew the ‘Dagga Debate’ was completely up and running. It was such excellent news to take into our NPO launch. Great excitement and a potentially huge story to keep under wraps.

The moment came in Parliament when the Dr. introduced his “Medical Innovation Bill” and we transmitted it on every feed at our disposal far and wide. The global cannabis community got the news in a flash.
Job done.

Here is the full 13 minutes of our four questions to Dr Ambrosini:
We post it with a surge in pride. Some days it’s really really awesome to be  a cannabis activist and it’s a lasting honour to have crossed paths with such a inspiring and brave man.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4DCYU_f8TQ&list=UUUdM7LCIQVLdb00cSOwkIeA&feature=c4-overview