A new study published by Assabah on Wednesday reveals the popularity of drugs in schools and educational institutions, showing that about 50 percent of students smoke marijuana and drink alcohol. Since the revolution, drug addiction rates in Tunisia have reportedly increased by 70 percent.

Surveys concluded that marijuana is the most used drug in Tunisia, followed by cocaine, and heroin. Subutex, originally a medication for the treatment of addiction to heroin and other drugs, has particularly gained popularity since being essentially introduced, illegally, to the Tunisian market after the revolution.

Durban - Dagga could become legal for medicinal purposes as early as three months’ time.

IFP MP Narend Singh told The Independent on Saturday that the change in legislation “could be finalised by the end of July, or August”, cautiously adding: “But you never know.”

Last year his fellow party MP, the late Mario Oriani-Ambrosini, made an urgent call for its legalisation for medicinal use. He had been using it for his lung cancer.

His appeal found an ear in the country’s top office.

“I was touched to see the man I’ve known and worked with for more than 20 years in this condition. I’ve asked the minister of health to look into this matter,” President Jacob Zuma said in Parliament.

On the 9th and 10th of April 2015, along with medical colleagues from Cape Town, I was invited to make a presentation at a conference in Gauteng titled,Cannabis for Medicine: Yes or No. The conference was organised by the Department of Social Development and the Central Drug Authority and was the government’s first invitation for the public to give their inputs regarding the proposed legalisation of cannabis for medical purposes.

It's Saturday morning at an "entrepreneurship retreat" at a hotel in Aurora, Colorado, just outside Denver - well, that's what the sign in the lobby reads anyway.

The word "marijuana" is conspicuously absent from the marquee.

Today isn’t just any Monday – it’s April 20th. Despite the large number of South Africans who celebrate 420, marijuana is illegal in South Africa. Here are some views on the legalisation of cannabis in South Africa.

According to Jeremy Acton, the leader of The Dagga Party of South Africa, cannabis can be used as an energy resource and as an alternative to fossil fuels. “South Africa is on the edge of an irreversible energy and resource crisis that could easily be alleviated by legalising cannabis to allow megascale production of carbon as an alternative to fossil carbon,” Acton said to Connect.

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.

According to Wikipedia, April 20 - or “4.20” - has become a day of marijuana celebration, particularly in North America.

“We tap into a complete cross-section of South Africa, just as the plant does. It is truly a rainbow crowd of old young, black white, straight, gay, smoker and non-smoker alike.”

The Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) has arrested a 43-year-old peasant farmer of Sinazongwe district for unlawful cultivation of fresh cannabis weighing over three tonnes.

DEC Public Relations Officer Theresa Katongo said Leonard Mansanga, 43, a peasant farmer of Mulonga-Munene village in Sinazongwe district has been arrested for unlawful cultivation of fresh cannabis plants weighing 3.9 tonnes.

Ms. Katongo disclosed the development to ZANIS in a press statement in Lusaka today.

She said the commission has also arrested Christine Lufupa, 63, a peasant farmer of Mitec area in Solwezi district for unlawful cultivation of fresh cannabis plants weighing 110 kilogrammes (kg).

She explained that the cannabis was intercropped with maize.

Johannesburg - Andre du Plessis admits it proudly. Yes, he was the one who had disbursed the mysterious bankies of dagga seeds to the tables of delegates attending a government-hosted conference on the medical use of cannabis this week.

“God is in every garden,” smiles Du Plessis, of the Cannabis Working Group.

“Do try to grow those seeds. Plant them, water them and watch them grow.”

Of the stash of only three seeds that Du Plessis had deposited in small, zip-locked bags, some had been furtively stashed into handbags, while others were left, rejected at the Kopanong Conference Centre in Benoni.

The roundtable debated the use of cannabis legally for health purposes. 

Opening the debate, the Deputy Minister of Social Development, Mrs Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, said the conversatin was long overdue.

“We have called this roundtable to open up a debate on cannabis in line with the Constitution of the country which calls for open dialogue and citizenry participation in decision making.  This is the beginning of a lengthy dialogue through which we hope to take all South Africans along when the country’s final position on the use of cannabis is determined,” said Bogopane-Zulu.

The cannabis round table discussion is being hosted by the Social Development Department this week.

JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s first ever conference on the use of cannabis as a medicine on Thursday heard that up to four million people were estimated to be using the drug in southern Africa, and while millions are spent to eradicate it, these efforts yield little results and often disadvantaged the poor.

The cannabis round table discussion was being hosted by the Social Development Department in Benoni this week and brought together doctors, lawyers, religious leaders and NGOs to discuss the viability of partial legalisation.