Teens selling sex for alcohol

Schoolgirls are selling their bodies beside illegal shebeens to earn money for alcohol.

Some teens as young as 16 openly admit to prostituting themselves to “sugar daddies” for cash.

The shocking revelation follows a Daily Voice investigation into the rise of underage drinking during the festive season.

Some girls confess that they turn to dirty old men who buy them alcohol in exchange for sex - because they cannot get money from their cash-strapped parents.

One 17-year-old Samora Machel resident, known only as Nthabiseng, says it’s easier to get money from guys at a shebeen than from her family.

“My parents don’t know that I drink so I get money from the guys I meet while I’m out partying,” she tells the Daily Voice.

“I don’t drink every day but I go out on weekends with my friends for some fun.

“We dress up and go out with just enough money for the first round of drinks because we know we will meet some guys there who are going to buy us some more.

“We’ll start dancing and chatting with them and then the drinks will come.

“It then means after partying we go somewhere and have sex.

“Usually it’s in the car or out in the bush.

“We don’t go to their houses.”

Some shebeen owners admit allowing teenagers into their drinking dens.

But they say they cannot always keep track of who they hang around with or leave the premises with at the end of the night.

“I’ve had my shebeen open for about five years now and I don’t usually sell alcohol to minors,” Phumla Madizeni, 40, tells the Daily Voice.

“Obviously these young ones try their luck sometimes to try and get in here - but I chase them away.

“But there are those who ask to stay and I let them because I know them.

“They come in to buy their beers and their ciders - I never ask where they get their money from.

“The younger ones usually come in groups, but I don’t interfere.

“The only time I ask questions, it’s for their age and when I tell them to leave when they start getting too drunk.”

The Daily Voice team witnessed groups of skimpily-dressed teenage girls openly drinking on the streets and dancing around drunk on the road.

And when the sun went down, the skirts got shorter - and the shorts even shorter.

Nthabiseng says the girls wear short skirts to attract more men.

“Guys only notice the girls with short dresses on and make-up,” she tells the Daily Voice.

“We dress up to look older so that we don’t get thrown out.”

Statistics released by the South African Breweries (SAB) earlier this year revealed that one in two teenagers in South Africa drink or has been drunk.

Many shebeen owners say they try to keep the teenagers out of their taverns by demanding to see IDs at the entrance.

But they admit it is hard to keep track of everyone on a busy day.

“Schoolgirls sometimes knock here at 6am while in uniform to buy beer. They often get very upset when I refuse to sell to them,” Babalwa Kenqa, 43, says.

“Once they are drunk, they have no respect for the elders, they stagger here down the road with older men shouting and screaming.”  (from IOL)

No space for baby

HOMELESS people in the Cape Town suburb of Table View have found a safe place tostore their valuables.

Unfortunately their storage facility is a special safe fitted with a hi-tech alarm system intended for desperate mothers to leave their babies if they cannot care for them.

The homeless, often referred to in the Cape as ''bergies'', have caused endless nightmares for Kim Highfield, the founder of Baby Save, which is geared at reducing the high number of abandoned babies in the province.

Last year, she had the safe mounted on to a wall of a church building in Table View. The metal structure is lined with a baby blanket and a pillow.

Once a baby is placed in the safe, an alarm is set off and within seconds Highfield receives an SMS.

Five minutes later Highfield is there to collect the baby and is always ready to help the mother.

Shortly after the project was launched in May last year, the bergies started causing trouble.

"The West Coast Family Centre very kindly said they would open the gates so the mother could walk in," said Highfield. "Instead, bergies moved in at night and their presence scared mothers away. They think the safe is a drawer to store their blankets, booze, clothing and toiletries. Sometimes they have heavy haversacks. Anything over 1.5kg lets off a signal and I get an SMS," she said.

I cannot not go. What if there is a baby there? I can't always assume it is them putting their wine and bedding in the safe."

Because of the problem, she was only able to help four babies.

Highfield will set up a similar project in the suburb of Muizenberg next year and hopes the Table View project can be saved.

Melany Kühn, spokesman for the MEC of social development, Albert Fritz, had harsh messages for the vagrants and advice for mothers.

"We strongly condemn this action by vagrants as it could eventually lead to a call not being responded to under the assumption that it's just another false alarm," said Kühn. We also appeal to mothers to seek any and all available help rather than dispose of their babies on rubbish heaps or dirt bins. This is tantamount to murder or attempted murder." (From Timeslive)

New shock for drunk drivers.

 Tell tale signs of drunk driving, and not blood tests, will be enough to land motorists in trouble with the law as the authorities seek new ways to crack down on the problem before the festive season.

Now, the authorities announced in a joint show of force on Friday, they will turn back to an existing charge of “driving under the influence of alcohol” - rather that the more commonly used “driving with a blood alcohol limit over the legal limit”, which necessitates blood testing - which means drunk drivers could be fined up to R180 000, or face as long as nine years behind bars.

Blood tests are not necessary to secure such a conviction, traffic authorities, police and prosecutors confirmed during a press conference yesterday, which was hosted by the provincial traffic department, the provincial police and the National Prosecuting Authority.

With roadblocks planned across the province during the holiday season, traffic officials will instead be looking out for the telltale signs of inebriation – unsteadiness and an inability to perform simple tasks, such as walking in a straight line or picking up a bunch of keys.

The NPA’s Mark Wakefield said that instead of simply sending suspects for blood tests, traffic officers at roadblocks would primarily search for signs of drunk driving, to use as evidence in court.

The news has, however, already prompted a top criminal attorney and a forensic expert to warn that relying on the observations of law enforcement officials to determine sobriety could be risky.

William Booth warned the authorities that their change of tack would not be without its challenges. There could be a number of innocent explanations for behaviour which could be construed as drunkenness, he argued.

Forensic expert Dr David Klatzow agreed, pointing out that the rate at which alcohol was absorbed differed between people. The observations of law enforcement officials, including that a suspect’s eyes were bloodshot or he was unsteady, would also not be able to stand up in court when challenged by a skilled cross-examiner.

Klatzow’s view was that authorities should instead focus on ensuring that forensic laboratories, which test blood samples, work efficiently.

Over the past five years traffic officials have arrested 800 to 1 000 motorists a month for offences related to drinking and driving.

To date, the NPA has had a 90 percent conviction rate.

David Frost, head of traffic management in the Western Cape government, said more than 30 000 of the 31 323 blood samples sent for testing returned positive.

The change in focus comes about two months after a Western Cape High Court judge found that the State had not proved the blood test results in a drunk driving case, because it hadn’t followed proper procedures. (from IOL)

McNamara wants drugs charges withdrawn

Former Western Cape government official Dave McNamara wants drug possession charges against him dropped, the Cape Town Magistrate's Court heard on Friday.

His attorney William Booth said he had been instructed by his client to ask the National Prosecutions Authority to withdraw the charges.

Booth said he and prosecutor Leon Snyman had agreed that McNamara would avail himself to DNA tests in order to complete the investigation.

He was arrested in June last year at inner city apartments in Cape Town after he was found in possession of the drug tik, and a broken bottle-neck used to inhale the substance.

Booth said tests had already been done on the bottle-neck, but that prosecutors now required more tests from McNamara.

At the time of his arrest, McNamara, 48, was the provincial director for community development and spearheaded programmes to combat drug abuse.

He was to have faced a disciplinary hearing, but resigned before it could take place.

Booth said McNamara agreed to submit to a second round of tests provided that his own private DNA experts could examine the test results.

“We all need finality in this matter as it has been pending for some time,” he said.

Magistrate Nadia Bonwari postponed the case to February 13, and McNamara's bail was extended. - Sapa

State seeks match with DNA on tik lolly

Cape Town - The State intends matching the DNA found on drug paraphernalia with that of former Western Cape Social Welfare Services chief director Dave McNamara, allegedly found in possession of the items last year.

Prosecutor Leon Snyman told the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Thursday that the forensic laboratory has been asked to analyse the tik lolly and seven packets containing tik residue allegedly confiscated from McNamara. A DNA profile had been compiled and it had to be compared with McNamara’s DNA.

McNamara, who was in charge of all social workers in the province and the Social Development Department’s programmes against drugs, resigned in September, his lawyer, William Booth, confirmed. McNamara was arrested after police stopped him at a filling station in Orange Street and found a tik lolly and seven packets on him.

McNamara had been expected to go on trial on Thursday, but Booth had written to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to have the charges dropped.

Booth told the court Snyman had informed him the representations were unsuccessful. Booth said the DPP had explained why the submissions had been turned down, in a bundle of 20 to 25 pages.

On the DNA tests, Booth said he was concerned the tik lolly and small packets were contaminated. He noted that they had been tested in July last year. Snyman said if the defence did not co-operate with the investigating officer and allow a DNA sample to be taken, the State would seek an order forcing him to comply. Booth replied: “I indicated the item could be contaminated, not that we do not wish to co-operate.”

The matter was adjourned until November 23.

- Cape Argus

Pupils flocks to CBD drug hub

Cape Town’s Grand Parade and station deck in the CBD have become drug havens for school children, say taxi drivers, shopkeepers and security guards working in the area.

While pupils at city schools commute daily, they weave their way between drug dealers who openly offer and sell them drugs. And the youngsters freely admit that whatever their drug of choice, they’ll get it there.

They arrive in numbers after 2pm, according to security guards working in the area, who describe the pupils as “a real headache”.

And the trade is continuing unabated, even though police spokesman Warrant Officer November Filander said the Cape Town central police arrest about 180 suspects every month for possession of and dealing in drugs.

In addition, he said, regular integrated and clandestine operations were held on the station deck and the Grand Parade, “with good success”.

Amanda, a 17-year-old pupil at a city high school, told Weekend Argus this week that tik and unga were “very easy” to get in the area.

“You just know who to go to, and there’s no way that they will not have it. It all happens here at the Parade. Sometimes it’s a matter of sitting down at the bus terminus, as if you’re waiting for a bus, and the dealer will come and you do the exchange.”

She arrived by bus about 9am, smoked for about an hour, then went on to school.

“If you tell them [at school] the bus was late there’s no way they won’t let you in,” she said, explaining that she and seven friends clubbed together to buy cocktails, a mixture of unga and dagga, which they smoked daily.

“My grandmother gives me R50 for the week. My friends and I club together and one of the boys goes to buy for us. We either smoke and go to school, or we just roam around town trying to get more money to buy more,” Amanda said, adding that she began smoking unga when she was in Grade 8.

Another city school pupil, 18-year-old Keagan, said he became hooked after being given a “special cigarette”

by a dealer.

“It’s very addictive. They just call school children and say ‘come look’. The next thing you know you’re the one calling them.

“It’s quick to buy, and you don’t feel like the dealers want to hurt you because it all happens in public,” he said.

Taxi drivers said they often tried to get police to intervene, but claimed they were told to chase the drug dealers away from the station deck themselves.

“Look at them. They’re selling tik right now, in front of us. We chased them away and now there is a new group of foreigners selling tik to everyone. These children buy from them and smoke here near the taxi lines,” one driver said.

“The few times that dealers do get caught they swallow the tik, because they keep it in their mouths, or they pay the police or law enforcement to let them go,” he said.

Asked whether the police were aware of allegations of pay-offs in exchange for leaving dealers to trade freely, Filander said they were not. He added that any allegations of misconduct or corruption against police officers would be investigated, with disciplinary action and suspension to follow where relevant.

One Grand Parade shopkeeper said some school children used a nearby payphone to contact dealers in the vicinity.

“They call their dealers and find out where to meet them. School starts at 8am but around 9.30 there are children here walking around aimlessly. You can see what’s going on, I don’t know why the police can’t pick it up,” she said.

The security guards added that sometimes when they tried to chase children away, they sat with the homeless people who frequented the area.

“It would be easier to solve this if we were working with police,” one security guard said.

Filander said that while they took the allegations “very seriously”, they could do little without statements and sufficient evidence.

“Our railway stations are being monitored and patrolled by railway police and other law enforcement personnel on a daily basis, and we do make a lot of drug arrests.

“Metrorail security guards are also being sensitised to be on the lookout for any illegal activities that might occur on trains and on the railway platforms,” he added.

Asked to comment, Community Safety MEC

Dan Plato said he would raise the issue as “a matter of urgency” with provincial police commissioner Lieutenant General Arno Lamoer.

“The City Improvement District, together with SAPS and the metro police, have been extremely effective in curbing drug-related crime across the city over the past 10 years.

“I will be asking the SAPS, City Improvement District and metro police to join me on a walkabout of the area, so that we can talk to the informal traders and gather more information on this situation,” Plato said. - Weekend Argus

Pregnant and drinking… on purpose

Cape Town - Reports of teenage girls drinking heavily while pregnant so their babies are born with foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), so they will qualify for disability grants, has prompted research into this phenomenon.

Leana Olivier, CEO of the Foundation for Alcohol Related Research, said reports had been received that some young women in the Eastern Cape’s Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality were “drinking heavily so their babies can be born with FAS, enabling them to qualify for a R1 200 disability grant rather than the R280 child grant”.

While such cases have not been reported in the Western Cape - known for its high FAS rate - the foundation has learnt that some pregnant women in the province drink heavily in the hope of aborting unwanted babies.

“There seems to be a developing trend to drink to kill the unborn baby or cause harm to get grants… [which] suggests foetal alcohol syndrome may be much bigger than research has established. In some provinces the problem seems… bigger than HIV/Aids,” Olivier said.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry says SA is among the top 10 countries for alcohol spending, forking out about R10 billion a year.

According to Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Elizabeth Thabethe, while liquor trading contributed a lot in expanding the country’s economy, alcohol use had been blamed on a range of problems, including health, trauma, damage to infrastructure, social impact, and other economic costs.

While many associated FAS with poverty, unemployment and other socio-economic problems, Olivier said anecdotal reports from the private sector suggested that even those in the middle and upper class socio economic groups were affected by FAS.

Olivier blamed this on mixed messages sometimes given by doctors that suggested one glass a day of alcohol, such as wine, was acceptable during pregnancy.

Through interventions such as the Healthy Mother Healthy Baby programme - which encourages women to give up harmful substances during pregnancy - the incidence of FAS in the Northern Cape had dropped by 30 percent.

Adrian Botha, spokesman for the Association for Responsible Alcohol Use, said there was no evidence indicating how much alcohol would cause FAS.

“We believe it is not safe to consume any alcohol during pregnancy,” he said.

- Cape Argus

New drug arrest record for Western Cape

The newly released crime statistics indicates a record number of drug related arrests for the Western Cape.  The new record is the eighth year in succession showing an increase:

2004 30 432
2005 34 788
2006 41 067
2007 45 985
2008 52 781
2009 60 409
2010 70 588
2011 77 069

413 119 arrests in 9 years in the Western Cape. What are the cumulative totals of the other provinces for the past 9 years?

Eastern Cape 60000
Gauteng 121000 
KwaZulu Natal 215000
Northern Cape 18000
Mpumelanga 18000
North West 51500
Limpopo 27000
Free State 37500
Total number of drug arrests for the rest of the country: 548 898

The Western Cape is "responsible" for 43% of the drug crime committed around the country. If drugs really do cause crime or lead to it then other crimes should similarly be raised, yet they are not. Res ipsa loquitur. Drugs doesn't cause crime, because IF it did the Western Cape's crime statistics would be far worse than they are.  (from SAPS)

Here come the pictures

South Africa is aiming to follow Australia's lead and compel tobacco companies to use plain packaging for their tobacco products, MPs heard on Wednesday.
 
"We will... be testing plain packaging... (which) means there will be no branding on tobacco products," health department director for health promotion Vimla Moodley said.
 
Briefing members of Parliament's health portfolio committee on proposed new smoking regulations, she said the department was also testing the use of "pictorials" on tobacco packaging.
 
These were pictures of the "health consequences" of smoking.
 
"Up to now, the regulations allowed for text messages (showing) health warnings, for example 'tobacco is harmful to your health'.
 
"But in terms of international guidelines... we need to introduce pictorials, which are pictures of health consequences on tobacco products." (There are no international guidelines - this is nonsense)
 
The department was currently testing pictorials, and the health messages that went with them, in Gauteng and the Western Cape.
 
Reports on these would be completed by December this year.
 
On the introduction of laws compelling tobacco manufacturers to use plain, non-branded packaging, Moodley noted that Australia had recently done this.
 
"We are keen to test this and if there is... support for it, we will go this route," she said.
 
Australia's plain-packaging laws were fiercely opposed by tobacco companies, but the manufacturers received a set-back last month when the country's highest court endorsed the new regulations, which are set to take effect on December 1 this year.
 
Speaking after the briefing, Moodley said the new South African regulations - which are still subject to review - could be ready by as early as next year.
 
The proposed regulations also seek to ban smoking in public places and "certain outdoor places".
 
Moodley told the committee that current regulations allow 25% of the floor space in a restaurant or an indoor facility be designated a smoking area.
 
"With this set of regulations... indoor public spaces will now be 100% smoke free... Those places will no longer have a space for indoor public tobacco use."
 
Other areas the department was seeking to make 100% smoke free included "entrances to public spaces, outdoor eating and drinking areas, health facilities, schools, child-care facilities, covered walkways and in stadiums", she said.
 
According to a document tabled at the briefing, so-called "smoking prevalence" in South Africa is declining, though about 44 400 deaths in the country each year are "related directly to tobacco". (from News24)

Government commission recommends semi-legalisation of cannabis

A Government commission has recommended that Rastafarians be allowed to carry on them at least 100g of cannabis for spiritual reasons without prosecution.

The Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities, says the Ministry of Police also needs to reclassify the 1911 ban on dagga in South Africa.

The recommendations have been submitted to various government departments including education, justice and constitutional development and communications.

The Commission says they aim to engage Government departments in order to change the perception that society has on the religion and to build tolerance for Rastafarians.

The Rasta community says they feel ignored and that their religion is disregarded because some people do not understand them. They claim to be harassed daily because of their spiritual path.
 
Some of the recommendations made is that the Ministry of Police allows the Rastafarians to carry, on them, at least 100g of cannabis. They are also calling on the media to change the way they portray their religion.
 
They have also called on Police to end alleged harassment and prejudice against Rastas. (from SABCNews)

The war on drugs on children

Police, metro police and other law enforcement officers swarmed a school in Khayelitsha on Thursday during an unannounced visit to search pupils for drugs and weapons.

Several minutes passed before they actually started searching the classrooms at Bulumko Secondary and by then pupils were already aware of their presence.

With the help of sniffer dogs, 11 classrooms were searched. Girls and boys were searched separately and no drugs or weapons were found.

The search was arranged following an increase in gang violence among the youth in Khayelitsha over the past few months.

Education MEC Donald Grant said the incidents of violence had occurred outside school premises, after school hours.

“At Bulumko Secondary there have been a number of incidents of violence between learners belonging to different gangs after school. In other cases learners from rival gangs and from other schools have been involved.”

He said gang violence had also affected after-school study programmes for Grade 12 pupils: “At one stage learner attendance at these programmes was low. Learners expressed fear of being attacked while walking home from these programmes.”

Grant said the Western Cape Education Department had several discussions with the police on the matter and had asked for increased patrolling after school hours.

Grant said the Department of Community Safety had employed three field workers to implement a six-month life skills training programme at schools in high-risk gang areas.

Principal Bernard Hlongwane said knives had been found during previous searches.

Grant’s spokeswoman Bronagh Casey said he was disappointed to see that some children were not in class when the police arrived at the school.

Some pupils were looking out the windows and were not participating in classroom activities. (What were they expecting arriving with the police and sniffer dogs?)

Casey said Grant had asked the district office to investigate why these pupils were not participating in classroom activities.

“Learners are to remain in their classrooms at all times during a search and seizure operation, unless a specific class is being targeted. In this instance, male learners are asked to line up outside the classrooms, while female learners remain inside. If properly managed, all learners should have been in their classrooms before, during and after the police arrived.”

Hlongwane said he was not aware that pupils had not been participating in class activities, adding that he wasn’t sure if this was because they had seen the convoy of police arriving. (DUH!). (from IOL)

Sniffer dogs are no good at sniffing out weapons. The police found NOTHING. Otherwise we would have read all about it in the report? If the police had found some flick knives and pangas we would be reading all about the brewing gang war in Khayelitsha. Young black children are still people. Being searched like they are all criminals is humiliating, degrading, invading their privacy and ultimately disgusting. Why were the press invited onto the school premises? Why were the press allowed to take photos of the children like the one above which appeared on IOL? The answer to that question is that it was a PUBLIC RELATIONS EXERCISE. WHO asked the press to attend a search of a school? The principal? The police? The press?

Searches of school grounds is supposed to occur in terms of s45A of the Western Cape Provincial Schools Act as amended. .

Cape Town to spend R20 million on fighting drugs

The City of Cape Town plans to set aside R20 million to crack down on gangs and the drug trade, it was reported on Thursday.

The Cape Times reported that this budget was four times the amount spent in 2011.

Safety and Security mayoral committee member JP Smith said the SA Police Service's response to the gang crisis showed a low conviction rate.

He had decided to bolster the city's six-member gang task force to fourteen members in the coming weeks.

According to the report, the unit had made 143 drug and gang-related arrests since its creation in December.

Community safety MEC Dan Plato said specialised units had proven to be an effective strategy "to investigate, detect arrest and ensure successful convictions". (from TimesLive)

No army for Cape Town

President Jacob Zuma will not deploy soldiers to areas affected by gang violence in the Western Cape, the presidency said on Wednesday.

"The president... has opted for more intensive action by the police and long-term interventions by social and economic clusters of government," his spokesperson Mac Maharaj said.

(As per usual the President is too busy and can't speak for himself. Unfortunately this mean this blog now carries words spoken by South Africa's number one sycophant. For this I do apologise)

In July, Western Cape Premier Helen Zille asked Zuma to send troops to curtail gang violence. At the time, at least 23 people had been killed in the Western Cape in six weeks.

Seventeen of them were killed in Cape Town's Lavender Hill and Hanover Park areas. 

Maharaj said the ministers of police and defence had briefed Zuma on the situation. A team comprising staff from both departments went to the two suburbs to make an assessment.

The briefing from the two ministers indicated that a long term and multi-disciplinary approach was needed. (which essentially means that nothing will ever happen. This is government speak for entropy.)

"The SA Police Service has the necessary capacity to deal with the situation in these areas. The situation does not require the deployment of members of the SA National Defence Force," Maharaj said.

He said there were socio-economic conditions that needed to be addressed.  

(Mr Maharaj acting like he doesn't live in the country. Has the man looked around the country recently? The entire place is a socio-economic disaster and here is the President's spokesperson sycophant/troll telling us that Hanover Park and Lavender Hill have "socio-economic conditions" which needed to be addressed. Socio economic conditions? You don't say.. I thought Lavender Hill was like Constantia and Hanover Park like Bishopscourt. Always looks like it when I drive through there.)

Police would improve their intelligence-gathering and visibility in the areas, and form partnerships with government departments and non-government bodies.

Maharaj said the government's response would extend to Mannenberg, Elsies River and Nyanga.

"President Zuma has directed ministers in the social and economic sectors to study the situation and look for long-term solutions that promote sustainable development and stable communities." (from News24)

Ultimately this is good news, however to have Mac Maharaj fob off the problem to be solved by now starting to look for solutions is rather disheartening. Helen Zille will have to find another way to get the police to answer to her.

US DEA getting involved in Western Cape drug war

The UN has given Cape Town the thumbs-up for its proposal for inflicting a body blow to the tik scourge in Western Cape.

The city's safety and security directorate has drafted regulations that will make it tough for drug manufacturers to get hold of the ingredients they need.

The directorate's Anton Visser is confident that all the bases have been covered and he is ready to meet Western Cape Premier Helen Zille today to discuss the directorate's plan.

"At the moment we are concentrating on arresting people for dealing in drugs or possession of drugs. But the back door is wide open. Anyone can get the chemicals," said Visser. The man is at the top of the pile and he HASN'T HEARD OF PRE CURSOR CONTROL. It has been illegal to own the pre cursors for tik for since 1994. I wonder if Mr Visser has even heard of the SAPS? It is of some concern that such a fucking idiot could actually be in charge!

The diversion of chemicals from legitimate use in industry to the manufacturing of illegal drugs "is a significant contributor to the drug problem experienced in the city", according to the safety and security directorate.

Chemicals such as ephedrine, pseudoephedrine and phenylpropanolamine - which are used in cough-and-cold medications but are also ingredients of the illicit drug methamphetamine, or tik - are easily available.

The regulations, said Visser, are aimed at manufacturers, importers and exporters.

 

Anyone manufacturing, preparing, transforming, storing, importing, exporting, marketing or researching certain chemicals - including those used to make tik will have to register. (and could everyone who is making tik also please register - since we're living in lala land.)

Chemists will have to participate in a "methamphetamine monitoring programme" which will require "electronic recording of transactions involving the sale and distribution of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine and phenylpropanolamine products by pharmacists". Agg man.. by this stage the chemist should probably just take over the whole thing and start selling it legally to the users. Mr Visser needs to find his first clue, as till now he's just proved clueless.

Before taking delivery of these chemicals, a buyer will have to produce an identity document, residential or business address and a signature, along with a witness.

Visser said the US Drug Enforcement Administration helped the directorate to draft the proposal. (from Timeslive)

 

There you have the answer to what the US DEA is doing in South Africa: Getting involved in drafting legislation and bringing their mentality of the "war on drugs". This philosophy has been exported the world over and the body count continues to mount. That the city's safety and security directorate chief knows so little about pre cursors is a sad indictment of the total lack of knowledge of the powers that be. If there are any two organisations which not to take drug advice from they are the UN and the US DEA. The UN has been the nexus of the international war on drugs. Thousands of people killed for what? Based on what?  The US DEA is involved with this war on drugs nonsense all around the world.... and now here in the Western Cape - helping out a clueless Mr Visser.

Constitutional Court says no to tobacco

The Constitutional Court has turned down a legal challenge against a ban on smoking advertisements, the National Council Against Smoking (NCAS) said on Tuesday.

The court declined a request by British American Tobacco SA (Batsa) to hear an appeal of a judgment upholding the ban by the Supreme Court of Appeal in June of this year, NCAS said in a statement.

"After examining the cigarette company's application for leave to appeal the judgment it 'concluded that the application should be dismissed with costs, as there are no prospects of success'," the council said. (from Fin24)

The Constitutional Court has given short shrift to the tobacco companies. This is bad news for the alcohol industry which will be wanting to challenge the pending laws restricting alcohol advertising as the precedent has been set. The CC is not interested in hearing you.

Should Cannabis be banned in sport? Of course not!

The expulsion of an American judo player from the  London 2012 Olympic Games after he tested positive for cannabis prompted scientists to question the sense behind the drug's inclusion on the World Anti Doping Agency's (WADA) banned list.

Few experts think cannabis can do much to enhance the kind of speed, strength, power or precision that Olympic athletes strive for. And many wonder whether the expensive time and effort of sporting drug testers might be better spent catching serious cheats who top up their blood with EPO or pop anabolic steroids to boost testosterone levels and muscle growth.

"There's no evidence cannabis is ever performance enhancing in sport, and since its use is legal in a number of countries, there's no reason for it to be banned by WADA," said David Nutt, a professor of neuropsychopharmacology at Imperial College London.

Cannabis isn't performance-enhancing

"I can't think of any sport in which it would be an advantage. And it seems ludicrous that someone could quite legally smoke cannabis in Amsterdam in the morning and then come over to London in the afternoon and be banned from competing."

The heart of the problem is where to draw the line between performance enhancing drugs - which many experts agree should be prohibited in sports because they make the contest unfair - and recreational drugs, which have little bearing on performance but could give sport a bad image.

Scientific or political?

Since marijuana is a forbidden drug on WADA's current list, athletes face a two-year ban if it is found in their system while they are in competition.

But the anti-doping body does not sanction athletes who test positive for marijuana outside of competition times, while they are in training camps or during rest periods.

Scientists say this smacks of double standards and suggests WADA bans cannabis for political rather than scientific reasons.

"The problem is the elite athletes should be seen as role models for young kids, and so they ban cannabis because they don't want to have the image of gold medalists smoking joints," said one British-based sports scientist who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue. 

A photo of the American swimming champion Michael Phelps smoking marijuana through a glass pipe "bong" in 2009 sparked criticism from the US Olympic Committee.

In a statement released shortly after the picture was published by a British tabloid newspaper, Phelps admitted to smoking pot and apologised for what he described as "bad judgement". But he faced no sporting sanction for his behaviour because it was not "in competition".

Experts say that row, as well as the ruling on American judoka Nick Delpopolo - who said he inadvertently ate the drug in a marijuana brownie - is far more to do with the image of sport than any form of cheating.

"It's hard to imagine how smoking a joint or eating marijuana brownies is going to help somebody in judo," said Michael Joyner, a member of the Physiological Society and a researcher at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota in the United States.

"My advice to WADA is that they should focus on drugs that are clearly performance enhancing in the sports where they are clearly performance enhancing."

Sensitive issue

Some national sporting bodies are also kicking back against WADA's stance.

Australia's Coalition of Major Professional and Participation Sports called in May for marijuana to be removed from the list saying it was wrong to group it with performance enhancing drugs like human growth hormone and steroids.

Substances on WADA's banned list should meet two of the following criteria: they are proven to be performance enhancing, they are dangerous to the health of athletes, or they are contrary to the spirit of sport.

While there are few signs that marijuana can enhance sporting performance, there is evidence to suggest it could have a negative impact.

Studies have shown that THC - the ingredient in cannabis that induces the "high" - increases blood pressure and heart rate while also decreasing cardiac stroke volume, leading to diminished peak performance.

It can also slow reaction times, cause problems with coordination, reduce hand-eye coordination, and interfere with visual perception.

Anti-doping authorities were not keen to discuss the issue. Officials at UK Anti-Doping declined to comment, and an email sent to WADA's media relations office asking for a statement on why cannabis is banned got no response. (from Health24)

No need to listen to those who know about the benefits of taking cannabis. Better to listen to those who "think" they know.

Reduction in drink driving limit slammed

The government’s plan to cut legal alcohol limits for drivers has been slammed by the Western Cape’s No.1 anti-drink driving crusader, transport MEC Robin Carlisle.

The national transport department gazetted draft amendments to the National Road Traffic Amendment Bill on July 18, and chief among its provisions are for the maximum blood-alcohol levels to drop from 0.05g/100ml to 0.02g/100ml.

For professional drivers, the current limit drops to zero - in other words a complete ban on booze.

Carlisle said: “I have no scientific evidence - and to my knowledge there is none, anywhere in the world - that if you reduce the existing levels the number of accidents will decline.

“We have gone to great lengths - with great help from the media - to try to get people to change their behaviour.

“It’s my view that a very large number of people have done just that - they have changed the way they go out to restaurants, to parties, etc."

“I’m therefore reluctant to go back to them and say thank you for trying very hard for not exceeding your two drinks but now, however, I have a nasty surprise for you,” Carlisle said, referring to the proposed legislation.

In addition to Carlisle’s contention about a lack of scientific evidence in support of the cut, no experts or other industry sources could provide any proof that drivers who drank liquor up to the 0.05g level were more dangerous on the roads than those with up to 0.02g.

On the national government’s own official “Arrive Alive” website, both “social drinkers” and “habitual drinkers” are clearly described as “sober” up to the 0.05g level.

On this scale, only “social drinkers” who have upwards of 0.06g are described as “light(ly) (intoxicated)”.

“Habitual drinkers” require a little more alcohol to be as intoxicated as their “social” drinking counterparts.

But up to 0.09g they are still described as “sober” – in apparent contrast to the proposed legislation. (from IOL)

Drink driving limit to be lowered

Proposed amendments to the National Road Traffic Amendment Bill could see the blood alcohol level of a driver drop from 0.05g/100ml to 0.02g/100ml, it was reported on Saturday.

This would mean that a person may not even have a full 340ml beer before driving, the Beeld reported.

Gary Ronald from the Automobile Association (AA) told the newspaper that 0.02g / 100ml was equivalent to 25ml of vodka or brandy or 75ml of wine.

"Drunk driving is one of the main causes on accidents on our roads. Never mind pedestrians who drink and then try to cross the road," Ronald was quoted as saying. (from News24)

Does the Tobacco Products Control Act ban Pick 'n Pay sponsoring Sax Appeal?

The Tobacco Products Control Act of 1993 (ActsOnline) is a poorly drafted piece of legislation with some curious unintended consequences. Pick 'n Pay is a tobacco retailer, as is each and every retailer in the country - from Makro, to Shoprite to every corner shop. Retailers are banned from doing ANYTHING at all. Sound exaggerated? The actual wording of the section dealing with the restriction on tobacco retailers reads:

s3. Advertising, sponsorship, promotion, distribution, display and information required in respect of packaging and labelling of tobacco products 

ss1) Contains a total ban on all forms of direct and indirect tobacco advertising.

ss2)  No manufacturer, importer, distributor or retailer of tobacco products (Read Pick 'n Pay) shall-

a)     organise or promote any organised activity that is to take place in whole or in part in the Republic;

b)      make any financial contribution to any organised activity that is to take place, or is taking place, or has taken place in whole or in part in the Republic;

c)     make any financial contribution to any person in respect of-

i)      the organisation or promotion of any organised activity in the Republic by that person;

ii)     the participation, by that person, in any organised activity that is to take place, or is taking place in whole or in part, in the Republic.

ss3) A manufacturer or importer of a tobacco product may make a charitable financial contribution or sponsorship, provided that such contribution or sponsorship is not for the purpose of advertisement.

ss5) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (1), (2) and (3), the Minister may prescribe exemptions for unintended consequences or the phasing out of existing sponsorship or contractual obligations.

ss11)This section must not be construed as limiting, amending, repealing or otherwise altering any legal obligation or liability in terms of any other law to warn consumers of the risks of using a tobacco product which a manufacturer, importer or retailer is bound by.

 

The restrictions placed on manufacturer, importers, distributors extended to retailers of tobacco products.The restricted parties are restricted from organising ANY ORGANISED ACTIVITY anywhere in the country. The restrictions furthermore include making any financial contribution to any organised activity within the country. Pick 'n Pay's sponsorship of SHAWCO and Sax Appeal is technically illegal. Further compounding the problem is that ss3 makes provision for manufacturers or importers of tobacco products to make charitable contributions. If the legislators wanted to exempt retailers they would have done it here, but they didn't. To have such a broad ban on doing anything at all is hard to understand and would appear to be unconstitutional. It would seem ridiculous that the tobacco law could override freedom of association required for an event such as the Cape Argus Pick 'n Pay cycle tour or the corner cafe sponsoring a soccer team with kit to wear. 

The Minister may prescribe exemptions "for unintended consequences" in terms of ss5). Sections allowing the minister to fix the unintended consequences of legislation are extremely unusual as it essentially transfers the legislative power to a single minister. That is what the law says. Of course there will be a million excuses and umming and ahhing, but if you read the law, that is what it says.