Extra time allocated for written submissions on proposed dagga law

The portfolio committee on justice and correctional services has extended the deadline for written submissions on the Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill.

Committee chairperson Bulelani Magwanishe said the committee had received several requests for an extension. The new deadline is November 30. The committee opened the process about a month ago, and the deadline for the submission of written comments on the bill had been Friday October 9.

The Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill comes after a Constitutional Court ruling that legalised the personal use and cultivation of dagga in 2018. The bill deals with personal use by an adult and proposes a maximum jail term of 15 years for anyone who deals in dagga or provides it to a child.

The purpose of the bill is to respect the right to privacy of an adult to possess cannabis plant cultivation material, to cultivate a prescribed quantity of cannabis plants, possess a prescribed quantity of cannabis, and to smoke and consume cannabis.

People smoking dagga in public, too close to a window, or in the immediate presence of any non-consenting adult could get a jail sentence of up to two years.

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