The highest court of the land ruled on Tuesday that it was unconstitutional to continue to criminalise marijuana intended for personal and private use.

On Tuesday, 18 September the Constitutional Court of South Africa, handed down a landmark judgment confirming the order of constitutional invalidity made by the Western Cape High Court, which had previously declared that criminalising the use, possession, purchase and cultivation of cannabis is unconstitutional.

The unanimous judgment was read by Deputy Chief Justice Ray Zondo, who declared that certain sections of the Drugs and Trafficking Act 140 of 1992 (Drug Act) and Medicines and Related Substances Control Act 101 of 1965 (Medicine Act) are inconsistent with Section 14 of the Constitution because they directly infringe on the right to privacy.

According to Zondo, the order serves to limit the legislation so far as "to the extent that they criminalise the use or possession in private or cultivation in a private place of cannabis by an adult for his or her own personal consumption in private".

There was a jubilant mood in the public gallery as judgment was handed down. A...