South African newspapers have extensively covered President Zuma’s visit to Eldorado Park, Soweto this week. Zuma reportedly arrived after reading a resident’s letter pleading for something to be done about the gangsterism and drug dealing that is destroying the community. It’s a common story, not just in SA but the world over. Inner cities and ghettos ruled by street gangs who fuel their fires by selling narcotics to anyone and everyone. It would seem the harder the area, the harder the narcotics. Reports of children as young as 10 years old are to be found using tik and nyaope in the local ‘lolly lounges’ in Eldorado Park.

The President said he was shocked by reports that once arrested, a gangster is back out on the street within days or sometime even hours. He was also shocked to hear stories of police officers taking bribes and handouts to turn a blind eye. What?  Is our President so out of touch with his country that he was shocked by what he heard?  Doesn’t he know about the extensive police corruption that thrives around illegal narcotics? Doesn’t he know that the reason the gangs are in charge is because there in absolutely no control of any of the ‘illegal drugs’ the  ‘War on Drugs’ is fighting. Prohibition gives the power to the street – all over the world.

So we heard Zuma’s bold new plan to ‘crack down on the scourge’ shut the brothels, close the ‘lolly dens’ clean up the streets and arrest all the offenders. This message is getting a bit thin to all who hear it now, especially from a politician AND especially since we’re all staring down the barrel of a general election in 18 months time. Election rhetoric or not, this approach to the world’s drug problems has not and will not work. Albert Einstein’s remarks that ‘insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results’ comes to mind.
The message to the People of Eldorado Park was one such moment of insanity. Does he actually wake up dreaming of a drug free world? The people who do are going to be really disappointed in the end. Narcotic substances have been mans friend since time began. They’ve been used for thousands of years by civilisations, tribes and individuals to enhance their time on earth and learn about themselves.

The trouble with a place like Eldorado Park and all the other low income impoverished suburbs of the world is the substances are being taken for all the wrong reasons. Most of the Eldorado Park reports this week paint a picture of a community that doesn’t have any working infrastructure to enhance an adolescents life. The community centres are run down, the parks are filthy, the sports fields  are not maintained, there are no apprentice programmes and no skills training. In short there is no hope for the youth of  Eldorado Park. Again, a common story the world over. No skills being learned and no jobs to be had. Maybe in that position it would be you who decides to tug on a tik pipe to alleviate the hopelessness…

This is the reason drugs and gangs are then norm. What else is there to do? Kids see a gangster with some nice clothes and a car purchased from ill gotten gains and want the same. Dealing tik and nyaope is then only economic viability for many as there is pretty much zero chance of getting work. Most small time dealers still live with their mothers. Illegal drugs are profitable because of the risks involved…the more the police crack down, the more risk is involved, the more the prices rise. Automatic weapons are now normal because the prices are so high, it’s worth killing for.

Nothing in this scenario will change unless something different is done. There has to be a whole new rethink of the situation. A major paradigm shift is required.
Fortunately for our President he can now look at other parts of the world for guidance. There are countries the world over who are tackling their street drug issues by controlling the market for them. Demarcating areas for users/addicts to get clean drugs and relevant advice in a controlled manner. How much HIV is spread throughout SA by the use of dirty paraphernalia, another spin off to uncontrolled drug use.
The President could look to countries like Portugal who set the precedent and bravely declared their war on drug over for ALL drugs. No more ‘forbidden fruit’. In 10 years their addiction problems have dropped by 50%. Even the brutal streets of South American drug torn countries such as Mexico and Columbia are realising the criminalisation of their citizens doesn’t solve anything. People are prepared to risk their liberty in the pursuit of their pleasure. Lets not forget that millions of South Africans take illegal recreational drugs on a regular basis with no ill effects to their lives whatsoever. Their lives are actually enhanced by the experience.
It’s all about the intentionality.

The main concern the Dagga Couple have with the South African War on Drugs, or seemingly the War on its People is how many Dagga users get caught in the crossfire. There are now 25 countries around the world that have realised the difference between ‘hard’ drugs and a ‘soft’ drug such as cannabis. The medicinal properties of cannabis cannot be ignored any longer. Cannabis has a positive application in society (look no further than the 17 states in the USA that prescribe the Dagga plant to hundreds and thousands of patients every month). Not so for home made chemical prohibition cocktails such as nyaope and meth, the substances of hopelessness.

We’re concerned that the supposed crackdown in Eldorado Park will put thousands of small time, non violent Dagga users in to the hellish system that is the South African judicial and prison system. Young men and women tarred with a criminal record and a suspended sentence for what? The unlucky ones will serve some hardcore time in an environment so far removed from the concept of rehabilitation  they’ll never be same again.

The Dagga Couple have an inbox full of  anecdotal evidence to suggest Dagga is an exit drug for thousands of people who are trying to stay off the hard drugs (which includes alcohol). We have reports from supporters who use Dagga to counter their depression and anxiety towards their futures. The depression came first, not the Dagga. More often than not, the unlucky ones who can afford the anti depression medication report such hectic side effects they resort back to Dagga, and the risk of stigmatisation, thier parents wrath and their liberties.

Hard drugs in urban ghettos, informal settlements and areas of high unemployment have been around for generations. In the 1970’s it was Dagga, the the 80’s it became heroin and the new drug, crack cocaine, the 90’s it became all the amphetamine derivatives, the coke, speed, meth, and kats of the era. Now nyaope has surfaced. Another drug for another generation. Could be nyaope is just indicative of the depths of hopelessness a township youth feels now.
The drugs go in and out of fashion but the fact remains. More people are using them purely because there are more people to use them and they’re overwhelmingly used as a pleasurable experience to the vast majority of users.  Hard drugs are relatively cheaper than they were 10 years ago and nobody seems to have a problem getting hold of them so from all angles it looks like the ‘War on Drugs’ hasn’t worked for the drugs. It’s certainally worked in criminalising  hundreds of thousands of non violent citizens along the way, Everyone who smokes weed in SA knows someone who’s been busted for possessing the stuff.
How about offering a drug user/abuser an alternative. A job, an opportunity, a future, a skill.

There’s no easy answer to the future of  humans and their penchant for narcotics , but burdening the ineffectual, corrupt police force in a place like Eldorado Park with more Dagga dockets is just asking for trouble. A police system on the verge of collapse in some places (as a recent parliamentary committee described some police stations/cells.) and the President wants to fill the piss stinking cells up with non violent Dagga users. They are of course the easiest target of all, the oldest of scapegoats and the most arrests of all. Cannabis users are legendary at not putting up a fight. It’s their nature. They make great statistics though with a minimum of fuss. They don’t shoot at you either.

Anyway, the Presidents visit was probably a whole load of pre-election babble speak anyway. It’s not that long ago he refused Helen Zille’s request to send the army into the drug torn Cape Flats. The gang capital of the country, but Eldorado Park gets a visit? Nothing makes sense. It all seems so short sighted. So short sighted in fact, nobody is looking at international trends in successfully combating this social problem. The era of criminalising drug users is coming to an end. It just seems that South Africa’s president isn’t aware of it yet.