Durban - A Scottburgh pensioner whom doctors expected to die from cancer last year but now feels stronger thanks to a dagga-based oil, is scheduled to lead Saturday’s Global Cannabis Day in Durban.

Until last year, Harry du Plessis always considered the illegal herb “a no-no”.

“I never smoked, I never drank except for half a glass of champagne when I got married and a beer shandy once when I went fishing,” he told The Independent on Saturday.

Why would this 77-year-old indulge in the extracts of an illegal plant and campaign for it to be made legal to use in all its forms?

Despite the prevalence of digital information exchange, paper is still widely used in North America, for anything from wedding invitations to ballot mail-ins to arts & crafts. According to the Forest Ethics organization, paper consumption in North America has declined, but global paper consumption has increased. However, despite the decrease in consumption, North America still consumes more paper per capita than anywhere else (see Figure 1 below).

An increasing number of states in the U.S. are easing policies on cannabis prohibition but little discussion has taken place in Japan on the potential benefits of adopting a similar approach. As various locations around the world celebrate annual April 20 marijuana festivals, we examine the country’s historical and cultural links to the much-maligned weed.

When Junichi Takayasu was 3 years old, a picture book about ninjas changed his life forever. What fascinated him most, however, wasn’t the assassins’ stealthy skills or secret gadgets but their usage of a very special plant.

Just down the road from my house are shops that demonstrate the absurdity of our drug laws. The shelves are filled with paraphernalia such as pipes and bongs used for smoking cannabis, alongside the scales and "stench-proof" plastic bags popular with dealers. Behind the counter are sachets offering luridly packaged packets of Amsterdam Gold, Herbal Bush and Mayan Dream.

INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERSAccording to Wikipedia, April 20 - or '4.20' - has become a day of marijuana celebration, particularly in North America. Picture: Neo Ntsoma

Johannesburg - A party to raise funds for a legal challenge against dagga prohibition laws will be held in Johannesburg on Sunday, cannabis non-profit organisation Green Fields For All said on Saturday.

“This the second year of our 4.20 party, a date 'sacred' to the worldwide cannabis culture,” spokesman Julian Stobbs said.

More drug users are buying their drugs online – including so-called legal highs as well as illegal drugs such as cannabis and MDMA – because they say the quality is better, there is more choice and it is more convenient, research has found.

The 2014 Global Drug Survey (GDS) – which questioned almost 80,000 drug users from 43 countries, and is the largest research of its kind – indicates that although the majority of drug users still use dealers, a growing number are following 21st-century shopping habits by going online.

WESTERN BUREAU:

Chairman of the Westmoreland Hemp and Ganja Farmers' Association (WHGFA), Ras Iyah-V, says the organisation has been attracting widespread positive responses from local and international pro-ganja supporters since the organisation was launched one month ago.

"The feedback has been great - great media-wise and great in terms of the responses coming from not just the Rastafari community, but other people," Iyah-V told Western Focus in an interview on Wednesday. "We haven't got any governmental feedback, and that is part of the Jamaican people's overall concern. Everybody I have spoken to says they like the move because the Government is taking too long (to legalise) and we have the best herb here.

HEMPORIUM

With close to 40 countries growing low-THC industrial hemp, South Africa is falling behind, says Tony Budden.

Cape Town -

Cannabis… it certainly seems to be popping up in all sorts of strange places lately.

The mainstream media seem finally to be giving the plant some positive space, not just focusing on the “dangers” and reporting on the different initiatives around the world to get it liberated, a far cry from the old days of the “groen-gevaar”, the devil’s weed.