Bystander shot dead at Drug Arrest

Cape Town metro police shot and killed a man and arrested another for being in possession of drugs in Philippi on Thursday. (IOL)

The 28-year-old man was arrested after he ran from police when they tried to search him in Heinz Park shortly before 11am, Captain Ntomboxolo Sitshitshi said in a statement.

In the bag he was carrying they found 35 mandrax tablets and three drinking straws filled with "tik", with a total value of around R6 000.

During the man's arrest local residents began throwing stones at metro police. A Heinz Park man allegedly fired a shot at them. Metro police fired back, killing him.

A .38 special firearm found in the dead man's possession was confiscated. A 25-year-old man from the area was arrested for malicious damage to property after he allegedly damaged a police vehicle during the stone-throwing.

You just have to love the locals who start stoning the police....

Death Clock for Tobacco....

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and anti-smoking activists unveiled a "death clock" tracking how many people will die from tobacco use to mark a new campaign against the illicit tobacco trade. (Illicit tobacco trade???? Eh?)

The WHO said it expects tobacco to kill more than 5 million people this year. (No word on the Cannabis Death Clock...? Hardly ever moves....?)

Cape Town drivers face "random" drug tests

South Africa has followed the example of Australia and is introducing "random" drug tests at roadblocks.

"Most of the young people who die on the city's roads, died because they they were on some kind of drug," said Community Safety MEC Patrick McKenzie. Of course not to point a finger at any drug IN PARTICULAR.... let's pick on them all.

The apparatus would be launched as part of the city's Safer Festive Season programme and the city's campaign against unruly road users.

The question stands. What happens when a member of the public tests positive? Asked whether test results could stand up in court, McKenzie said consultation with prosecution authorities was under way.

"We are having our legal department check up on this for us," and then he saluted policemen and women for their efforts in fighting crime and lamented a situation where sterling work by detectives came to nought, because prosecutors failed to do a proper job.... unlike politicians who don't do their jobs properly and think things through?

What a total and absolute FARCE. The department will deploy this new technology without having checked out the legality of trying to rely on test for a conviction. So the first driver to get pulled over will be...? Put in the back of the van? Then what? The unintended consequences of this "policy" are going to be laughable... There is no point using the test unless you are going to be able to rely on it in court - and there is no way that some little cellphone sized gadget is going to be totally accurate. In fact - before this test is foisted on the public I think that all parlaimentarians should be forced to take it before sitting in session.... Driving the Country drunk and drugged? I wonder what we'll find?

What are the consequences of a false positive test? The first person "caught" in Australia was INNOCENT... and the poor guy has had his name dragged through papers....

Police raid shebeens - spitting in the ocean

Police have been raiding illegal shebeens in informal settlements in Athlone, resulting in the closure of some operations.

This is like spittin' in the ocean - there are 30 000 shebeens in Cape Town and the police are only closing "some operations". Any follow up on where the illegal alcohol came from? Of course not....

Smoking Cigarettes makes you stupid!

Smoking kills.... and smokers face a speedier decline in several measures of cognitive function by middle age compared with their non-smoking peers, new research shows.

If you are stupid enough to smoke then you are destined to be stupid in old age as well.... thanks tobacco...

Huge Bust in Cape Town - 4kg's of Heroin!

Three men were arrested in connection with drugs worth R4,6-million in Bishop Lavis and Athlone in Cape Town, Western Cape police said on Saturday.

During a search police confiscated four kilograms of heroin, three kilograms of Tik, 2 000 Mandrax tablets and one kilogram of Ephedrine found in two rooms and a bathroom on the premises.

Free foetal alcohol syndrome tests

In an attempt to help curb the spread of foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), the City of Cape Town is expanding its free testing, screening and growth monitoring services to all city clinics.

The strategy also known as "Closing the stable door after the horse has bolted" was announced on Wednesday, South Africa's National FAS Day, by Deputy Mayor Grant Haskin.

"FAS is completely preventable if only both parents of unborn children, particularly the moms-to-be, understood the damage they are doing to their babies and made the informed decision to abstain from alcohol for the duration of the pregnancy," Haskin said.

"It's a lifelong and irreversible disability."

The Western Cape has one of the highest rate of babies born with FAS in the world. The syndrome affects 24 000 South African babies every year.

And out of every 1 000 children in the Western Cape, 88 are living with FAS, while in the Northern Cape the figure per 1 000 is 122. In the United States the figure is fewer than one child in every 1 000.

The syndrome is caused by the mother's consumption of alcohol while pregnant, preventing the brain of the foetus from developing properly.

The physical and mental damage can include attention deficit disorder, low IQ level, facial deformities, immune system malfunctioning, memory loss and low birth weight.

At any given time, 500 000 South Africans suffer from FAS disorders.

"The Western Cape has the highest level of youth binge drinking, 34 percent, where the national average is 23 percent," Haskin said. Cape Town has a 24/7 toll free Alcohol and Drug helpline: 0800435748.

- Cape Times

Are Shebeens SAFER for young drinkers ?

An age-gap war has broken out at shebeens in some Cape Town townships and owners are turning young people away because they often become violent, noisy or rude.

The friction turned tragic when two teenage boys were stoned to death, possibly by an angry mob of drinkers, after trying to force their way into a shebeen in Khayelitsha last Sunday.

Anele Kholisa, 18, and Banele Montile, 17, started arguing with the owner, demanding to be let inside, and the situation became nasty.

When police arrived they found the bodies of the two teenagers lying covered in blood with a concrete slab nearby. Nobody has yet been arrested in connection with the double murder.

Superintendent Andre Traut said police regarded the stoning incident "as an isolated matter, rather than a trend in the townships".

"Alcohol abuse is a contributing factor to violence and therefore contributes to serious assaults and murders."

But the owner of another shebeen in Langa, who asked to remain anonymous, said shebeen owners definitely preferred older patrons and some had even banned young people.

"I have been running my business for a long time so I have come to know my customers very well. I prefer the older folks because they want to enjoy their drinks, listen to music, braai and talk about sport.

"The young ones like to pick fights, they want to argue over nothing once they have had one too many drinks."

The owner said she understood the problem of young people drinking too much but she also needed to earn a living.

"I have a trading licence, I can't afford to lose it, which is why I try to sell responsibly. I allow them to buy if they are of legal age but they (young people) know that they are not allowed to drink here."

A regular at the shebeen added: "How can we hang out with our children? Even if we know that they drink, we can't hang out at the same spot. They must find their own drinking place."

"It is also about cultural values; my culture does not allow me to drink with my children because we see that as a sign of disrespect."

Another patron at the shebeen, Buti Ngalo, said young people tended to think they were "cool" when they drank and because they wanted to fit in with their peers, they succumbed to pressure and ended up abusing alcohol.

An owner at another Langa shebeen, who also asked not to be named, said it was important to keep to regular trading hours, know the young people in the area and respect other residents' space.

"As you can see my shebeen is not far from a school so I do not trade during school hours. I would not want a situation where schoolkids bunk classes and come to drink at my place so I am strict about the way I operate my shebeen."

He said he was a community leader and therefore understood the rules that needed to be followed.

"I have heard about incidents where young people have either stabbed each other or fought over a girl; that is why security is one of the priorities in my shebeen." - Cape Argus

'Unga' joins tik as Cape drug of choice

"Unga", a highly addictive heroin-based drug, has reached a tipping point across communities of the Western Cape, and is now a major drug of choice on the Cape Flats.

According to Grant Jardine, director of the Cape Town Drug Counselling Centres, the build-up of unga in low-income communities has been a gradual one, but this year has marked the turning point.

"For the first few months of this year," he says, "heroin was our number one presenting drug for the first time.

"This indicates that heroin use is definitely on the increase amongst people in the disadvantaged areas that we serve, but the attention has all landed on tik which has masked the rise of heroin."

'Five years ago, heroin was found mainly in the middle class'

According to Andreas Pluddemann, a senior scientist at the Medical Research Council's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Unit, "Five years ago, heroin was found mainly in the middle class".

"But that has all changed, and it is now highly prevalent in lower socio-economic groups in the form of unga."

At the same time, the age at which people are experimenting with drugs is younger, says Jardine, and while the percentage of youngsters trying drugs is also higher, the type of drugs they are using has also changed to harder, more addictive ones like heroin.

Lara Foot-Newton, who directed Addicted to Life - an interactive theatre production aimed at school learners in high-risk communities, says that during every performance of her play, when the narrator says that it is not just about tik because in years to come, there will be something to replace it, the learners in the audience shout out "unga".

But, she adds, the name of a specific drug "gets hype just like a brand name, and the word spreads really quickly, but the real problem here is the general culture of substance and alcohol abuse".

'...the street value of a unit of unga is just R30 or R40'

Jardine says that, as a result, "just targeting tik is ineffective because in a few years, it is going to be something else and then something else."

Lionel Newton, who was instrumental in the field research for the script of Addicted to Life, says that "one of the reasons it is flooding the market is because of the war in Afghanistan where the heroin comes from, and this in turn means that unga is far more readily available and cheaper".

Pluddemann says it is also cheaper because it is sold in smaller units, and is less concentrated and of a poor quality.

"The price difference between tik and unga is now relatively small," he says, "and the street value of a unit of unga is just R30 or R40."

The two drugs, however, are not competing for a market but are in fact exacerbating the use of each other.

Says Pluddemann, "Unga is marketed as a good agent to accompany tik because it has the opposite effect.

"Tik keeps you on a high and awake for hours, so people need something to bring them down and help them sleep. And so heroine too becomes more popular."

Jardine says such combinations of substance use are highly common.

"It is extremely rare that someone with a substance abuse problem uses only one drug. One often has a 'drug of choice' but it is rare that that will be the only drug she or he is using."

Cape Flats rapper "Hoppie", who was once an addict but now uses his music to speak out against substance abuse, says he was part of the Cape Flats drug culture for seven consecutive years, and that during that time, he never just used one type of drug.

"I was part of a world where dagga, mandrax, ecstasy, rocks, tik and heroin were nothing unusual, an during that time I did so many things I am not comfortable with and which I now regret." - Cape Argus

Anything goes for these preteens

Children as young as 10 at a primary school in Cape Town have admitted to smoking anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs, headache tablets and other over-the-counter medicines to get high, a study shows.

This comes after a report to a parliamentary portfolio committee meeting of the department of social development two weeks ago which said special attention needed to be focused on this new trend.

Now an impact study by an after-school care project has shown that pupils from Andile Public Primary School in New Crossroads have admitted to buying and smoking drugs used in the treatment of HIV/Aids patients, as well as other pharmaceuticals.

Ncediswa Bolotina, a member of Partners with After Care School Projects (Pascap), produced the report which said that in addition to smoking ARVs, children were smoking over-the-counter painkillers.

In a bid to counter this, Pascap has started a drug awareness programme for pupils at schools in disadvantaged areas.

About 884 boys and 754 girls have participated in the pro-gramme which extends across New Crossroads, Langa, Khayelitsha, Paarl and George.

The report said that during assessment sessions, 55 percent of the boys and 20 percent of the girls reported they had tried cigarettes and alcohol with friends.

Liquor

A programme facilitator, Nthabiseng Lebitsa of the Centre for Drug Action in Khayelitsha, said about five pupils had admitted to smoking ARVs.

She said she believed the people who sold the ARVs usually did so to buy liquor.

The pupils reported having smoked the drugs, which they laced either with dagga or Tik.

She said facilitators could only provide guidance to children and advise them not to smoke ARVs.

"We don't know yet what it does to the brain. The children said they've 'seen' things and usually hallucinate," she said.

Prof Linda-Gail Bekker of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre in Gugulethu said she had heard ARVs were being used as a recreational drug.

Last week, New Crossroads ward councillor Elese Depoutch said he believed stolen ARVs had been sold to buy Tik. - Daily News

That's a lot of weed...

Three and a half tons of dagga worth around R3,4-million were seized by Beaufort West police in one week, Western Cape police said on Friday.

Spokesperson Ntobeko Mangqwengqwe said that in all three cases vehicles were stopped while heading for Cape Town.

The first incident occurred at 6.30pm on Sunday on the N1 highway. Police received a tip-off and arrested 26-year-old Lucky Ntshangase in possession of 240kg of dagga, worth around R240 000.

Ntshangase appeared in the Beaufort West Magistrate's Court. His postponement date has not been received from the court. He would remain in custody.

The second incident occurred at 11pm on Monday when police received another tip-off and found 2,2 tons of dagga dumped on a cliff about 100 metres from the N1 highway.

Myezo Mgushelo, aged 44, was arrested in connection with the dagga seized.

He appeared before the Beaufort West Magistrate's Court and his case was postponed to May 22 for bail application.

On Thursday police followed information received from the public and stopped a Volvo truck. Inside police found dagga weighing approximately a ton.

A 45-year-old man was arrested and would appear before the Beaufort West Magistrate's Court on Monday, Mangqwengqwe said. - Sapa

Proof that dagga persecution is ridiculous

Call in the sea Rescue! Because the lights are out...

Ridiculous!

In a wild attempt to escape the law, a man sitting on rocks at Sea Point allegedly threw a bag containing drugs into the water, then swam 300 metres out to sea to evade the two police reservists he had spotted.

A member of the public who saw what was happening jumped in and swam after the suspect to try and capture him.

And, to add to the mayhem, a power outage meant the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) in Bakoven was unable to send rescue boats out immediately to catch the suspect or to help the man swimming after him.

The Metro Red Cross rescue helicopter had to be sent to pluck them from the water instead.

On Tuesday, hours after the incident, police spokesperson Bernadine Steyn said the suspect was in hospital under police guard and faced a charge of possession of dagga.

She said reservists from the Sea Point police station were on patrol when they saw a man sitting on rocks near the Sea Point swimming pool.

When the man saw the reservists, he threw a black bag into the water and then jumped in after it, Steyn said.

Police divers rushed to the scene and the suspect was airlifted from the water and the black bag retrieved.

Two "stops" of dagga were also confiscated.

The suspect was taken to hospital as he had apparently been exhausted by the swim.

It appeared the man who swam after him did not need medical attention.

The rescue helicopter's spokesperson, Vanessa Horn, said the suspect and swimmer had been picked up from the water and airlifted to dry land.

"Once there the suspect was placed in police custody."

The Bakoven NSRI had received a call about a swimmer who was at least 300m from the Sea Point Pavilion, the station's commander, Mark Thompson, said.

"But because there was load-shedding we couldn't launch," he said.

NSRI spokesperson Craig Lambinon said that because of the power outage in Bakoven, the Table Bay station had also been alerted.

Lambinon said, however, that no vessels from either station had gone to the scene as the suspect and member of the public had by then been hoisted out of the water. - Cape Times

Drugs pour into South Africa

Drugs worth millions of rands are being smuggled into South Africa through the country's "unchecked" fishing harbours every day.

And authorities, while aware of the problem, seem to be doing very little about it.

Local and foreign drug dealers and syndicates are believed to be using small open sea ports and fishing harbours to import drugs, illegal goods and counterfeit merchandise.

Mandrax is the most popular drug being imported from China

Police say mandrax is the most popular drug being imported from China, followed by cocaine from South America.

But the national narcotics head for organised crime, Senior Superintendent Deven Naicker, says there are just too many containers entering the harbours and it was difficult to have every container checked.

He said about 2,5-million containers entered the country's harbours every year.

"We have thousands of staff members and security, but there are just so many containers. We've had a lot of successes, but we need container scanners at every harbour."

Presently Durban is the only harbour with a container scanner.

'Nothing is being done to monitor who enters and exits the harbour'

Knysna residents say private and commercial yachts and vessels pass and enter the small harbour every day without being searched or checked.

A resident who lives close to the harbour, and asked not to be named, said if incoming boats (private and commercial) were checked regularly the drug supply problem would be halved.

She said it was "open sea" in Knysna and the community was suffering because of it.

Drugs and counterfeit goods are also said to be much cheaper and freely available in the Garden Route town. "The drugs only pass through one or two hands here before they get to the client and that's why it's much cheaper," she said.

Knysna harbour master Herbie Kostens confirmed that not all boats and fishing vessels were checked and searched - they were checked only if the authorities had had a tip-off. "There is no policing of fishing vessels and boats here," he said.

Kostens said setting up a dedicated policing unit was not the answer. "If the police do check every boat, it will only last for about three weeks and then they'll stop and the problem continues."

Hout Bay harbour is another of the country's many unchecked ports.

Owner of the Harbour Master B&B, Ron van Nijkerk, said people were often arrested for being out at sea illegally, especially at night.

He told Weekend Argus drug smuggling was rampant.

"Nothing is being done to monitor who enters and exits the harbour," said Van Nijkerk. "People go out to sea at night for other things. Poaching is also still rife."

Hout Bay's acting harbour mistress, who refused to give her name, simply referred all questions to Marine and Coastal Management.

But MCM spokesperson Carol Moses said their responsibility was to protect marine resources and not to apprehend drug smugglers. Harbour masters were fully responsible for their own harbours.

In his 2005 paper entitled "Drug smuggling and border control at Johannesburg International Airport and Durban Harbour", author Jonny Steinberg described the relationship between border control agencies and drug smugglers as a "simple cat-and-mouse game".

"Indeed, it is fair to say that a mouse who gets caught is either ill-equipped to evade detection or unlucky," he said.

"Across the world, border control agents only search a small fraction of cargo and passengers. At Durban harbour, less than 1 percent of cargo containers are searched. At Johannesburg International Airport, the official figure is 3-5 percent of incoming cargo."

Meanwhile National Ports Authority spokesperson Pieter Smit said all seven South African commercial ports - Richards Bay, Durban, East London, Port Elizabeth, Mossel Bay, Cape Town and Saldanha - were compliant with the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code.

The code ensures vessels are checked and inspected regularly, that all port security operational procedures are followed, and that crime prevention strategies are implemented.

In November, it was reported that 90 percent of drugs came into the country undetected, while just 10 percent were seized by police. - Cape Argus

Stellenbosch lies...

The heavy handed actions of the South African Police in Stellenbosch has caused quite a stir. The bust was a joint operation by the police intervention unit, the local police and local fire brigade, supported by the police legal division.

So the Police charge the pub and let off a shot... clear to see on the video if you care to look



Not so according to Police Commissioner Dirk Mentoor who denied that live ammunition or rubber bullets were used. About a bullet hole in the club's roof, he said: "It could have taken place later. We have a bunch of hostile owners who might want to prove the opposite." Oh really?

The raid was however touted as a success.

Police found only a small plastic bank bag and two joints of dagga and three grams of hashish, at the clubs.

This was later upgraded by Police spokesperson Elliot Sinyangana who said the drug busts, at about 01:00, yielded six pieces of hashish, 150g dagga and some cocaine.

This increase in what was found is interesting. Of course no one is to be charged with possession and it will just fade away.... the question does stand... "Where did the additional drugs come from?" Perhaps Dirk Mentoor could explain that one? It's another convenient lie to "excuse the police actions"

About allegations that the police did not want to handle complaints about the incident over the weekend, Mentoor said it was decided to rather look at the matter collectively on Monday. He said there was no "flood" of complaints after the bust. By late on Monday four charges of assault had been filed with the police. Perhaps he should talk to George de Beer of Honey Attorneys who said he was consulting with several students and their parents and expected to have about 200 statements by the end of the week.Oh really Dirk - you should watch the video! Shame on you for lying to the public like that. Talk about a quick way to undermine confidence in what you are saying.

If the police actions were all in accordance with the Police Act and the CPA then there is no problem. If not? Then resign!

Cannabis is SAFER than alcohol....

Cannabis is safer than alcohol... isn't it time we treated it that way?

No one has EVER died from an overdose of cannabis. Alcohol causes 2,500 deaths per annum in Cape Town alone.

The Minister of Health can promote a healthy lifestyle all she wants, but her true feelings toward other people can be found in her utterances:

"You have the right to kill yourself if you want to," she said.

Oh really? What kind of healthy lifestyle is that? What does an inclination to kill oneself indicate? A health lifestyle? Of course not. She seems to be implying that people are being willful when they drink too much, but she conveniently ignores the fact that people are just exercising their free choice and choosing alcohol over and above all others as it is one of only a few drugs which are legally available.

"I was healthy before I got sick and I am healthy now. If promoting a healthy lifestyle is hypocritical, then I don't know what hypocrisy is."

Perhaps we can rephrase this to read: "I was healthy once... I drank too much... I damaged my liver... I drank in the hospital... I had a transplant... I drink now too... Don't listen to me.. I am hypocrital and a poor example for the whole country... I lie and evade when it suits me so don't expect me to actually do anything constructive.... for example... I haven't even admitted to my past mistakes"

Asked if she would consider an outright ban on alcohol to eliminate alcohol abuse instead of simply increasing prices, she said such a ban was against the Constitution. You have to love people relying on the Constitution without even backing it up with which rights would be infringed upon. In fact there is no right to kill oneself in the Constitution so even there she is incorrect in her assertion that you have the right to kill yourself.

The problem is that you have the right to kill yourself! Cannabis never killed anyone and therefore it is excluded. Any sane rational person would choose cannabis over and above alcohol - excluding the law for a second. Why then is the state against it? Perhaps they want the people to kill each other and die?

Cannabis reduces violence and violent tendencies. This fact in itself is a compelling argument for the release of cannabis from the yolk of prohibition to counter act the negative effects of alcohol.