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Constable Thabisile Mthembu, left, Sergeant Basil Gounden, Warrant Officer Leslie Naidoo and student Constable Philisiwe Ngcobo with the Durban Central Crime Prevention and the Crime Intelligence Unit police, seized 246 boxes containing kuber (tobacco)  inset right, in sachets  from a premises in Prince Alfred Street on Thursday. Picture: Gcina Ndwalane

Pushers and drug lords can expect to see their profits shrink with the news that KwaZulu-Natal Premier Zweli Mkhize is setting up a forum to tackle abuse and addiction in the province.

Popular drugs, including woonga and kuber, will be targeted as part of efforts to fight the scourge of abuse.

Anti-drug forums will research these and other drugs and advise the provincial cabinet on the campaigns needed to fight abuse.

Mkhize’s spokesman, Ndabezinhle Sibiya, said professionals in the health sector, traditional leaders and members of student governing bodies were expected to sit on this forum, which is expected to function like the HIV and Aids council.

“The forum will play a crucial role in advising the cabinet through research the sort of campaigns that should be run to curb the abuse of drugs such as woonga and kuber, which are eradicating the moral cloth of communities,” he said.

Kuber is a chewable tobacco, rich in nicotine, which is labelled as a breath freshener and sold in shops in plastic sachets for R2.50.

Picture: Gcina Ndwalane

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Sibiya said in the future all municipal districts will have an anti-drug forum and members would meet regularly, like the HIV and Aids council, which meets quarterly.

“We need to fight drugs in a co-ordinated manner because drug abuse is a scourge, an epidemic that is affecting education, as most drug users are pupils,” he said.

Kuber was banned from being imported, manufactured, sold and consumed in Malawi, according to a July 2010 edition of the Malawi Voice online edition.

The Malawian government banned kuber after tests revealed it contained cannabidol and delta-9-tetra hydrocannabinol (THC), which are primary elements in Indian hemp (cannabis).

Asked whether KZN would follow a similar direction, Sibiya said: “If there are international policies that need to be adopted to curb drug abuse, the anti-drug forum members would advise cabinet of these.”

Last week police, acting on a tip-off that kuber was being stored in the Durban CBD, raided a warehouse in Prince Alfred Street and seized 246 boxes of the tobacco with a street value of R2 million.

Police spokesman Captain Thulani Zwane said the seized consignment does not comply with SA standards in terms of packaging and warnings, and was therefore illegal.

The director at Sanca in Durban, Carol du Toit, said

: “Our prevention, training and community development staff have received reports that kuber is known and used in the communities in Durban. Parents, educators and communities should be gravely concerned about the widespread use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs among our youth.”