Durban - South Africa’s Anti Drug Alliance is calling on the government to legalise certain banned narcotics and to focus funding on addiction treatment rather than trumpeting the success of more drug busts and related arrests.
And the SA National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (Sanca) says the “National Drug Master Plan” is neither aligned with legislation nor international practice. It is calling for a professional national study into the use of popular drugs and the harm they cause.
Sanca says not only has the use of illicit drugs reached “alarming” proportions, but strategies aimed at prevention and treatment of substance abuse were not co-ordinated.
The alliance, a Joburg-based professional treatment group, said in a research report last week that the estimated R200 million spent this year on arresting and jailing drug dealers had had little impact on the trade, and would have been better spent on treatment and education programmes at a primary health-care level.
Looking at the 2012/13 crime statistics, the alliance said politicians and the media trumpeted the arrests of drug dealers and the confiscation of drugs, but of the 23 000 drug-related arrests in Gauteng this year, slightly more than 6 000 appeared in court and about 400 were convicted.
A case study of Gauteng’s Eldorado Park, where President Jacob Zuma and the media witnessed police arresting suspects earlier this year, resulted in serious consequences for the community who were left to face the ensuing turf wars between drug lords who saw an opportunity to increase profits, the report says.
Chief executive Quintin van Kerken said: “These arrests make no difference to drug addiction. Legalisation is the only logical step.”
Chatsworth Anti-Drug Forum chairman Sam Pillay slammed the report: “We can’t legalise drugs because we have lost the battle. We must just fight better.”
Sanca director Carol du Toit said while she could not comment on the alliance’s stance, the increase in the use and dependence on illicit drugs was a serious concern, but the National Drug Master Plan and existing legislation were at odds.
The Department of Social Services did not respond to questions.
The Mercury