SA a global dagga capital?

2003-02-26 16:34

Pretoria - Almost a quarter of all dagga seized worldwide last year was found in Southern Africa, mostly South Africa, according to the annual report of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), released on Wednesday.

It says South Africa has taken over from Nigeria as the continent's main centre for cocaine trafficking.

"The abuse of...ecstasy is spreading in the southern part of Africa. This is particularly true for South Africa, where the abuse of that substance has increased significantly in the white community within the last few years."

The report stresses that illicit drug production prevents economic growth and does not lead to long-term sustainable development.

Gary Lewis, regional programme manager for drugs of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, told reporters in Pretoria that just over $1bn (R8.08bn) was generated through drug-production activities at the farm gate level worldwide annually.

That was less than one percent of the global income from drugs, he said. Most of the money was made in developed countries where the final product was sold.

Lewis said the short-term economic gains resulting from illicit drug production had negative consequences in areas like health, the economy and political stability.

Between 1 000 and 1 200ha of land was being used to grow dagga in South Africa, yielding more than two crops per year, he said.

The report says: "Law enforcement authorities have expressed concern that the trends in Europe and North America towards liberalising or even legalising the non-medical use of cannabis (dagga) may lead to further increases in cannabis cultivation in Africa."

Lewis said most of the so-called psycho-tropic substances or "club drugs" found in South Africa was still found to have been imported.

However, the number of laboratories for the manufacture of such drugs was on the increase. Some 34 such laboratories had been found last year.

The report mentions the seizure of over 100 tons of chemicals - enough to produce 90 million Mandrax tablets - in South Africa in July last year.

South Africa was also being used as a trans-shipment point, as was proved by the seizure of 36 000 ecstasy tablets en route to New Zealand in May 2002.

Lewis said: "Our main concern is the trafficking of harder drugs. We are worried that the number of arrests for dealing in and possession of narcotics had increased consistently over the past four years...

"We see South Africa being targeted increasingly by traffickers recognising the advantages of its excellent transport and economic infrastructure...and banking system."

Other factors included South Africa's porous borders, and the fact that law enforcement in South Africa was in a necessary process of transformation.

"It is offering an opportunity to organised criminal networks to take advantage of the internal reflections in the South African police."

The report says: "Cocaine trafficking in Africa has shifted from Nigeria to South Africa, possibly as a result of the migration of West African criminal organisations to South Africa in the mid-1990s.

"Those organisations currently appear to control about 80% of the illicit trade in cocaine in South Africa. There has also been a shift in South Africa from dealing in cocaine to dealing in crack, which has become particularly popular among marginalised and vulnerable segments of society."

According to Lewis, there was an increased use of heroin not only by affluent people, but also among residents of poorer communities like Langa and Hammanskraal. People could buy quantities of drugs for as little as R30.

"That makes it affordable for people to try and escape the misery of their life."

The local use of the drugs was mostly through inhaling, and not through injecting, Lewis said.

"The international tendency is to move towards injecting, which this country with its serious prevalence of HIV/Aids can ill afford."

- SAPA