South Africa: Marijuana activism scores, Big Pharma equalises

In a policy brief published by the Medical Research Council on January 5, the medicinal value of cannabinoids was officially – and historically – recognised in South Africa. Three days later, the president signed into law the Medicines and Related Substances Amendment Act of 2015, a piece of legislation that theoretically allows Big Pharma to feed our dagga to us in pill form – or, if we like, through a straw. KEVIN BLOOM reports.

1. For the winners

To begin, a small story that would grow up one day to be a big story. The year was 1969, the place was Harvard University, and the story was fighting for its young and neglected life. It had come into the world in 1967, when a man by the name of Lester Grinspoon decided to prove that marijuana was indeed “a very harmful drug”, and to demonstrate to the “foolish” youth the...

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