Scare tactics, Heroin and Lies!

Experts are concerned that "ungah", a smoked mixture of dagga and heroin, could spread rapidly among township youth due to its low cost and addictive nature, coupled with a lack of rehabilitation centres. (from IOL)

The full extent of its use among township youth is still not clear, but heroin is rated as the second most abused drug in the province, said South African National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (SANCA) Gugulethu counsellor Vuyiswa Mvumvu.

Medical Research Council senior scientist in alcohol and drug abuse, Andreas Pluddemann, said the racial profile of heroin users had changed from being mostly white middle-class youth to 80 percent of heroin being used by coloured people from poorer areas.

He said while tik was the most commonly abused substance in the Western Cape, heroin was a close second and he believed ungah was spreading to black townships. (Tik and heroin might be the drug for which treatment is most commonly sought. The most abused drug in the Western Cape is Alcohol. The estimated 30000 shebeens which dot the Western Cape make sure of that. The SACENDU update for May 2009 states that the treatment demand in order is..... Alcohol, Cannabis, Cocaine, Heroin and then Methamphetamines. The demand for treatment for alcohol is more than double that for any other drug)

Senior Detective Superintendent Jan Rehder, who heads the Narcotics Desk at South African Police Service's Organised Crime Head Office said in 2008 they had made 2 408 arrests and had confiscated 41kg of heroin with a street value of about R8-million. (There were 2400 arrests in 2008 while at the same time 9400 people seeking treatment for drug problems across the country.)

"Treatment admissions for heroin as a primary drug of abuse remained fairly stable in all sites" SACENDU MAY 2009

Capetonian gets 7 years behind bars in Ireland

Bianca Butzer, 22, of Durbanville, Cape Town has been sentenced to seven years behind bars after trying to smuggle drugs into Ireland. She was caught arriving through customs at Dublin Airport with a kilogram of cocaine in her hand luggage last year. And after a year behind bars awaiting trial, she was finally sentenced last week. (from IOL)

The Irish court reporting agency CCC.nuacht reported that Butzer claimed she had agreed to import around R960 000 worth of cocaine.

The Irish police's Keith Taylor testified in court that Butzer had initially claimed that she had been trying to raise money to pay for medical treatment for her daughter in Cape Town.

It appears that Butzer later admitted, however, that she had been briefed to expect a a phone call and hand over the cocaine to someone in Dublin.

The Irish police agreed with defence counsel, Hugh Hartnett SC, that Butzer was "ashamed and sorry" and had been "100 percent co-operative with gardai (police)."

Alcohol causes Violence...?

The ARA is torn about this...? "The evidence does not, however, support the conclusion that alcohol consumption causes violence. " Yet right above this statement is this advert"ALCOHOL OFTEN LEADS TO VIOLENCE." Pages like the ARA's denialisms truly makes a mockery of the "importance of communication and education". The alcohol industry apologiser, the ARA, just cannot bring itself to admitting the true "cost" of alcohol to our society. If you examine the "Views" of the ARA you will see what concerns the industry has. Unfortunately it's Denialism to make ones head spin.

It's never a good idea to lie about a drug. EVERYONE knows that alcohol is a key ingredient to the violence. ONLY alcohol consumption has double in 8 years. There is no other drug which is so intricately linked to the wave of violence which has swept through the country - NOT EVEN TIK.

Tik... Driving mothers to the edge

Erica Sampson, 54, a single mother from Mitchells Plain has been driven to despair after four of her five sons became drug addicts and contemplated poisoning them rather than watch them destroy themselves. (from IOL)

She has worked as a domestic worker and cleaner her whole life, dreaming her sons - who range in age from 19 to 33 - would one day have a better life.

But then, one after the other - except for the middle one - they started using tik (methamphetamine) and a cocktail of other drugs, including heroin, dagga, and mandrax.

She had high hopes for her youngest. But even he has turned into a tik monster, telling her last week: "I'm going to kill you in your sleep."

"I loved this child. I gave him everything. I couldn't believe he could do this to me," she said.

The girlfriend of one of the boys said: "The first time I tried tik, it was like heaven. I had so much energy - it makes you feel on top of the world."

This disaster can be laid squarely at the door of the CDA and the Government who have been sleeping on the job. This plague has sprung up in the last 5 years and there has been no GOOD response. The reality is that things will get far worse before they better.

OR Thambo... into drugs or WHAT?

24kg's of Heroin worth about R12-million was discovered on a passenger aircraft from Iran at OR Tambo International Airport on Friday, police said. (from the Mail and Guardian) (Who would have guessed that the OR Thambo would become synonymous with drug smuggling?)

"The consignment was from Tehran in Iran, which makes it the first in South Africa. Normally you don't get drugs from such countries being passed through South Africa," said Senior Superintendent Tummi Golding. (It's a pity that Tummi doesn't read the Mail and Guardian on how Glenn Agliotti pleaded guilty this week to facilitating the importation of two tons of hashish from Pakistan via Iran early last year).

No one had been arrested in connection with the incident.

In a separate incident at the airport on Thursday, police discovered 130kg of Viagra worth about R11,2-million on an aircraft from Singapore.

This consignment had no address, meaning that it was probably an inside job from that country's cargo officials, said Golding.

"Cargo in Singapore should have disallowed the consignment as it had no address," she said.

Cannabis is way SAFER than Viagra and Heroin!