SA makes dopes of the world

2003-11-24 12:35

Bryan Porter

Cape Town - In a gaffe certain to delight South African readers, Britain's News of the World warns of a new drug from South Africa that is "six times stronger than normal cannabis and has left some victims mentally deranged".

Under the headline Deadly New Dope Alarm the tabloid's James Mulholland warns that this "poisonous and powerful" new South African export has "lethal" effects that could "cause chaos in Scotland".

The name of this new evil? Dagga.

Police in Scotland, a country famous for spawning the characters in Irving Walsh's heroin nightmare Trainspotting, have yet to realise that "dagga" is the South African street name for ordinary cannabis.

The News of the World reports that a kilo of dagga costs from just 40p to £20, compared to the usual £3 500 Scottish drug dealers are used to paying for "normal hash".

Authorities fear the cut-price cannabis could make certain crooks a fortune from selling it on - with margins of up to 4 000%. One cop told the tabloid, "It could lead to a drugs war".

A spokesperson for Scotland Against Drugs (SAD) was quoted saying: "Dagga is more like LSD than cannabis, we should warn people to stay away from it."

- News24