IF YOU WANT “GRASS” (GANJA) YOU WILL GET GRASS

“Grass dealer open for business” – June 7 1973

In the 1970s there used to be a norm among those smoking or dealing in ganja (dagga) to refer to their medicine as “grass”. This was done in an attempt to mislead the police. At this time, I was working for the Daily News and covered a story about a waiter who was charged and acquitted for selling grass to a man who wanted to buy “grass” or dagga from him. The article, published under the headline: “ `Grass’ dealer is open for business” was published in the newspaper on June 7 1973. The waiter, Mr Benny Pillay, who worked at the Cuban Hat restaurant on the beachfront at that time, took this phenomenon to its literal level when one police trap wanted to buy “grass” from him. This police trap, who worked at the Cuban Hat restaurant a few years back, had pestered Mr Pillay for more than a week. Mr Pillay wanted to teach his former colleague a lesson. He walked to the back of the restaurant, picked up some grass from the lawn nearby, wrapped it in a newspaper sheet and handed it to the man. The police trap paid him 80 cents which he took without thinking anything about it. But within minutes he was arrested and charged with fraud. He appeared in the Durban Magistrates’ Court on June 6 1973. He told the magistrate that his former colleague had worried him for sometime for “grass” and that is why he sold him the grass from the lawn. He told the magistrate he and his fellow waiters were all married with families and they were hard-working people. They would not involve themselves in selling dagga. He was found not guilty. In an interview after the court case, Mr Pillay told me that his former colleague had irritated him by pestering him for “grass”, which actually meant ganja or dagga. “We all have wives and children and we are not going to jeopardise our families by dealing in dagga,” he said. “I did not know that my colleague was a police trap but his actions in persisting me to sell him grass (dagga) made me suspicious. “I, therefore, wanted to teach him a lesson and sold him the running grass. “In future if people approach me for grass, they will get grass,” he said. I spoke to Mr Benny Pillay 47 years ago and I trust he is still around selling “grass”. - Ends – subrygovender@gmail.com (re-published May 22 2020)