Cape Town - Decriminalising drugs is a silver bullet that could significantly weaken gangs by ruining their main source of income and power, say some experts.
But authorities are against the controversial idea.
Gareth Newham, the Institute for Security Studies’ head of crime and justice, said so far the fight against drugs and gangsterism had failed.
“We have to change our approach... and stop doing what’s proved to fail,” he said.
Gang violence has flared in a number of areas around the province, especially in Manenberg, where shootings are reported almost daily.
Hard Livings gangster Tashwin van Niekerk, of Manenberg, told the Cape Times the fighting was over turf from which to sell drugs and because tik and cocaine were becoming easier and easier to access.
He agreed that decriminalising drugs would affect gangs as their main source of income would be weakened.
“But then there’ll be no boundaries between the gangs and we’ll fight worse,” Van Niekerk said.
Newham said decriminalising drugs “would remove the single biggest source of income and cash to the gangs”.
He said the issues were not necessarily decriminalising drugs, but removing the drug market from gangsters.
Newham said there was “a growing global market” towards decriminalising drugs.
He said certain drugs, including dagga, which was mainly used socially, could be decriminalised and other harder drugs, including cocaine and tik, could remain illegal.
“Police could play a complementary role and police only those drugs,” Newham said.
He added that decriminalising certain drugs would free up police resources.
“Research shows that nowhere in the world can you fight drugs effectively through policing.”
Newham said that because of the economic climate, drugs were often the only source of income for dealers.
About 95 percent of the time “small-time” dagga dealers were jailed and often left prison as hardened criminals.
Newham acknowledged that the relatives of drug addicts would be among those who would not support the decriminalising of drugs and that it would be “politically not an easy thing to sell”.
“What we have typically are politicians using moral panic,” he said, explaining that politicians often called for more police to be thrown at the “serious social problem” of drug abuse.
Newham said drug abuse was a complex issue linked to lifestyles and social interventions, proven to work, were needed to clamp down on it.
“If those things worked, it would’ve worked by now. All these approaches have failed,” he said.
Criminologist Liza Grobler said she supported the decriminalisation of drugs.
“I know it’s controversial, but to me it makes sense because this is how you’ll destroy the market,” she said.
Grobler said the move could in effect cripple the drug trade.
“You’re going to pull the mat from under the dealers. It’s completely ridiculous that so many lives are destroyed,” she said, referring to the number of people killed in gang violence.
Grobler said the government was not “progressive enough” to decriminalise drugs.
Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa’s spokesman Zweli Mnisi did not comment on the minister’s stance on decriminalising drugs and instead provided the Cape Times with details about what police were doing to deal with drug use.
In terms of gangsterism, he said: “The links between gangsterism and the illicit trade in drugs is also becoming a serious concern.”
Community Safety MEC Dan Plato said he was “completely against” decriminalising drugs.
“I see on a day-to-day basis what it does to your youngsters,” he said.
“It would be a very tough nut for me to say: ‘Let’s try it.’ I think we’re not there. It’s still a very, very long way to go.”
Plato said deciding to decriminalise drugs would be “a hell of a lot of work”.
Ashley Potts, director of the Cape Town Drug Counselling Centre, said while the centre supported the decriminalisation of dagga users, it was opposed to legalising drugs.
“Gangs’ existence transcends the sale of drugs. It would be naive to even suggest that changing legislation of this nature would even dent the fabric of the existence of gangs.
“Gangs survive through calculated structures they have developed through generations,” Potts said.
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