And a letter in the Opinion section of today's Cape Times:
“Legalise it”
Caryn Dolley and the Cape Times must be commended for opening a debate on the problems of narcotics and the gangs that thrive on their sale (“Legalising drugs the right fix for gang wars, says crime researcher”, Cape Times, August 5).
But it is sad to see that police and officials are still trying to employ methods that have consistently failed here and elsewhere. Even the US has lost the “war on drugs” – that country remains the world's biggest market for narcotics, even though its enforcement agencies reach into foreign countries, monitor foreign ports, spray poppy and coca crops, share intelligence, and help other countries to pursue gangsters.
No doubt our police and officials try hard, but some of them will be corrupted. The vast revenues from the drug trade enable drug lords to buy policemen, court officials, judges and prison warders.
Meanwhile, the police spend half their time chasing petty criminals who steal to pay for drugs.
The problem lies not with the officials but with the policy of prohibition itself. Prohibition always spawns crime whether prostitution, liquor or narcotics. Even over-taxation of tobacco leads to crimes such as the hijacking of truckloads of cigarettes.
A few American states have lately legalised the use of dagga so that possession of small amounts is not a crime. More states will follow and South African officials should watch the outcome closely because the legalisation of dagga is a good place for us to start.
If dagga were subject to the same laws as tobacco, the benefits would go to small rural growers, to legal buyers in bulk, to makers of dagga cigarettes and to the tax collector.
Most important, the gangs would be eliminated from the smuggling, distribution and sale of dagga, and there would be no profit for “pushers” to persuade schoolchildren to smoke dagga.
This would not solve the drug problem, but it would be a start towards a policy of treating addiction as a medical, not a criminal, problem. The solution will lie in treating addictive substances as pharmaceuticals – subject to control by doctors and pharmacists – like all other dangerous drugs.