Hopes that medical marijuana could soon be legalised

It was IFP MP, the late Mario Ambrosini, who tabled a bill in Parliament in 2014 - and made an impassioned plea to President Jacob Zuma to decriminalise dagga for medical purposes.

Since Ambrosini's death from lung cancer, there've been a number of meetings in Parliament with the Health Department and the Medicines Control Council (MCC).

Now, the MCC has indicated that it will soon be publishing guidelines on the production of medical cannabis for public consideration.

The IFP's Narend Singh says they will now have to wait and see what the public has to say about the proposed guidelines and the entry into the market at some stage of cannabis for medicinal purposes.

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"Then we will come back to the committee and debate whether there is need for new legislation or whether current legislation would allow the use of cannabis for medical purposes," says Singh.

Meanwhile, the Dagga Party and others already have a case in front of the Western Cape High Court to have South Africa's prohibition of dagga declared unconstitutional; regardless of the intended use.

Those arguments have been heard, and they're expecting a judgment soon.

The Dagga Party's Jeremy Acton say the rules of the High Court say it should be handed down before of the end of quarter after the hearing.

"That means just before Easter recess. We want a deep judgement on that," says Acton.