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Parents fear tik-addicted kids
03/10/2006 09:21 - (SA)
Michele O'Connor, Die Burger
Cape Town - Amid indications that the use of tik was out of control, especially in the Western Cape, applications by parents to obtain protection orders against their tik-addicted teenagers were rising sharply.
"It's incredible. I'm handling at least 30 applications a week by parents who seek protection orders against their teenage children. Parents of addicts don't hesitate to protect themselves against their children," said a clerk at Bellville magistrate's court.
Clerks at magistrate's courts in Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha indicated that applications for protection orders were increasing weekly.
Tik and the violence associated with it were the reasons usually stated as a reason for the applications, said the Bellville clerk.
"The applications aren't just limited to parents and children. I handled the application of a woman against her husband of 56 who was also addicted to tik," he said.
Confiscation of property not too harsh
Meanwhile, a ruling by the Constitutional Court issued a warning to drug bosses and manufacturers.
Judge Bess Nkabinde ruled that Simon Prophet from Woodstock forfeited his "tik house" after he was arrested in connection with the manufacture of tik on the premises in 2000. Prophet lost the battle to get back this property in the country's highest court on Friday.
Nkabinde in her written ruling said the confiscation of the property wasn't too harsh a sentence, contrary to Prophet's pleas.
Prophet said the confiscation of his property indicated that he was guilty, after Cape Town magistrate's court had earlier found him not guilty on all charges.
The police seized ingredients for the manufacture of tik to the value R250 000 in his house in Woodstock at the time. The asset forfeiture unit also seized the property. It wasn't returned to him and he approached the Constitutional Court.
Nkabinde denied Prophet's application and said the court had to protect the public against crime.
Andreas Pluddeman of the Medical Research Council reiterated that the use of tik was totally out of control in the Western Cape.
According to a report by Pluddeman on the website www.sahealthinfo.org.za, Western Cape children as young as 12 were addicted to tik.
53% of addicts were younger than 20
"Rehabilitation centres in Mitchells Plain, Bonteheuwel, Belhar, Delft,
Eersterivier, Manenberg, Elsiesrivier, Athlone and Atlantis each treated more than 20 tik addicts during the second half of last year. At least 53% of these addicts were younger than 20. Addicts between 15 and 19 decreased during the second half of last year compared with the same time in 2004."
The Western Cape, with 34 788 drug-related crimes, was way ahead of the rest of the country regarding these crimes, according to the department of safety and security's latest crime statistics.
Two years ago there were 19 940 drug-related crimes in the Western Cape. This increased to 30 432 last year. Most drug related crimes countrywide were reported to Mitchells Plain police station.
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