Another SA drug mule caught

A South African woman hiding nearly a kilogram of cocaine in her body was arrested in Brazil as she went to check in for a flight to Rio de Janeiro with a connection to Europe, officials said on Thursday. (from IOL)

X-rays confirmed that the woman had capsules containing the drug in her stomach, vagina and rectum. They were removed by surgery, Brazilian police said.

Officers were alerted to the suspect by an anonymous tip-off before she turned up in Sao Paulo's domestic airport for the Rio flight. She was to have flown out to Madrid and Istanbul.

Cannabis is SAFER than smuggling cocaine and having a Brazilian doctor cut you open to get it out

United Nations promoted production of Opium

United Nations officials in Afghanistan are attempting to create a "flood of drugs" in the country intended to destroy the value of opium and force poppy farmers to switch to legal crops such as wheat. (e-Ariana)

"We want to create a flood of drugs within Afghanistan. There will be so much opium inside Afghanistan unable to go out that the price will go down."

Even without attempts to disrupt the flow of drugs out of the country, Afghanistan is doing a good job of destroying the value of its main export. Huge overproduction, which by some estimates twice outstrips world demand, has led to a steady fall in the value of opium. A kilogram is now worth less than one fifth of what it was in 2001. The slump in opium values, combined with last year's soaring worldwide price of wheat, fuelled hopes that farmers would switch crops. However, wheat has fallen by 30% since October and humanitarian handouts of imported wheat last winter also helped to keep prices in Afghanistan low.

Is this a bad time to ask what kind of effect this policy will have on the Afghan people? It's OK for the rest of the world... we just have to keep it in the country. And finally what happens if the UN is not able to keep the drugs within the country, like keeping the Taliban down? Plummeting prices. The whole endeavour is based on a twisted idea of NIMBY. We can "somehow" keep the drugs here... then it won't make it back home... It's all just wishful thinking,

Cannabis is SAFER than the United Nations stupidy.... no questions asked

Cannabis SAFER than alcohol if you don't want to get RAPED

News from Pretoria is that the mother of a mentally disabled child has pleaded for the court to be lenient in sentencing her son for RAPING HER... TWICE. (From IOL)

The mother said her son only did "these things" when he was drunk - just like his father.

"I just want to ask for mitigation. I love all my children. If he gets treatment for his alcohol and drug addiction, I don't think there will be any more problems. I have forgiven him," she said.

She said she had visited her son in jail. She did not know anyone else towards whom her son had shown "this sexual deviant behaviour".

However, defence advocate Sas Erasmus reminded the mother that the accused had a previous conviction for incest, although it was about 20 years ago.

"Oh yes, his sister. But there was no one else," the mother said.

She told the court her husband had been so abusive that welfare authorities had taken her seven eldest children away to a children's home. The accused was her third child and was aged nine at that time.

"My husband hit the three eldest boys with a sjambok or a stick, leaving thick scars. He also assaulted me. But these things only happened when he was drunk," the mother said.

Both she and her husband had been in special schools.

A word to the wise - keep the alcohol out of the home! This case is a sad consequence of doubling our alcohol consumption in 10 years. The article does not say what the cause of the "special-ness" within the family is, but would you bet against FAS? Alcohol is part of the family it seems. FAS sufferers struggle to tell the difference between good and bad and it's only when this "child" is drunk that he wants to get on the FAS Rape Merry-go-round. Is it any surprise that South Africa is the rape capital of the world?

Cannabis is SAFER than alcohol if you don't want to get raped!

Tik Tik Tik... Tick Tock Tick Tock

Tik is to blame for the "high" levels of absenteeism. Cape Town's top labour attorney sees at least one case a MONTH! No mention of alcohol here....

Workers in Cape Town take the most sick leave in SA because of the widespread use of tik, said labour lawyer Michael Bagraim. (from IOL)

Bagraim, who participates in disciplinary hearings where workers have to explain why they have taken an excess of sick leave, said he hears workers blame absenteeism on tik more than once a month.

"I've been doing hearings for 25 years, and I've never experienced this," he said. "It started about two years ago and is getting worse." (and by that he means disciplinary hearings... not tik)

Tik, also known as crystal meth, not only affects workers' ability to show up at work, but it also causes social problems at home because users spend money on tik that they should be spending on their families, said Terry Berelowitz, the medical director of Occupational Care South Africa (OCSA), an organisation that provides work place health and safety solutions.

A few years ago management at Toyota plant at Uitenhage decided that cannabis found in the change rooms of the workers was a problem. So they cracked down. Productivity crashed through the floor. Toyota problem solving could see that it was the lack of weed and the boring jobs... so they eased up on their crackdown.. and things returned to normal...

Kids have moved from Tok Tokkie to Tik Tik Tik... The government are to blame quite simply because it has not controlled the drug and kept it away from kids.

Cannabis can in certain circumstances improve productivity. Tik? For the person doing it it may well provide a perception of improved productivity, but the reality is somewhat different.