The Western Cape has set about clamping down on illicit drugs. The arrests made for "drug related crime" make for interesting reading year on year:
2003 - 19,940
2004 - 30,432
2005 - 34,788
2006 - 41,067
2007 - 45,985
2008 - 52,781
2009 - 60,409
That would be 285,402 arrests in 6 years. Is this success? Does this mean fewer people are taking drugs? The answer to that is a resounding no. The war on drugs has FAILED and badly too. In 2002 there was no tik for sale on the streets. Now it's everywhere.
2003 - 19,940
2004 - 30,432
2005 - 34,788
2006 - 41,067
2007 - 45,985
2008 - 52,781
2009 - 60,409
That would be 285,402 arrests in 6 years. Is this success? Does this mean fewer people are taking drugs? The answer to that is a resounding no. The war on drugs has FAILED and badly too. In 2002 there was no tik for sale on the streets. Now it's everywhere.
Success? No.
It's an easy way for the police to pad their statistics and please the politicians. All these arrests are lives ruined, but it's not by the drugs, but it's through the policy, the arrest, the criminal record. People who are addicted to drugs have a medical condition. I've never seen a medical condition successfully treated by incarceration, but that's the "policy" of the government.
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