The Cape Colony lists dagga as a poison

The Cape Colony put cannabis, commonly called dagga, on a poison list in 1905, giving chemists exclusive authority to sell it.^[1] Smoking and possession remained unrestricted, but growers now faced a narrower market controlled by pharmaceutical buyers.^[1]

Doctors pressed for control while politicians disagreed

Dr Jane Elizabeth Waterston had urged the government to restrict cannabis after linking it to crimes against women and loss of reason.^[1] Her intervention fed a debate in which some politicians described dagga as damaging workers and threatening public order.^[1]

Other Legislative Council members challenged those claims.^[1] They disputed the evidence about insanity and argued that cannabis could provide comfort after work or an alternative to alcohol.^[1]

Historian Thembisa Waetjen places the dispute within the growing influence of organised medicine, whose professional bodies advised the government on which substances should be controlled as poisons.^[1]

Growers lost bargaining power

Farmers around Middelburg grew cannabis commercially, supplying a crop with intoxicant, medicinal and other uses.^[1] The poison listing took effect as their harvest was approaching market.^[1]

Their representative, M. J. Pretorius, complained that pharmaceutical buyers could dictate prices.^[1] Growers said chemists bought cheaply, packaged the plant with a poison warning and sold it at a much greater profit.^[1]

The new rule therefore placed a professional gatekeeper between farmers and consumers, even while the consumers’ smoking and possession remained lawful.^[1]

A petition challenged the policy

In June 1906, 170 farmers and supporters petitioned the Legislative Council to reverse the listing.^[1] Pretorius also demanded evidence from the medical authorities to justify their claims of harm.^[1]

Officials promised repeal in 1907, while considering stronger controls on both possession and sales.^[1] The dispute over the poison list thus continued alongside proposals that would reach further into cannabis use.^[1]

Other farmers later took the opposite position: the Paarl Farmers’ Association sought tighter controls, alleging damage to labour and danger to white farm women.^[1]

The argument moved towards national legislation

After Union in 1910, Cape campaigners pressed the national government for broader action.^[1] An unpresented draft in 1916 proposed controlling use, possession, supply and unlicensed growing; nationwide prohibition followed in 1922.^[1]

In South Africa, the Cape dispute showed how control of cannabis could change livelihoods and strengthen professional power before a general ban was imposed.^[1]