Monthly Archives: August 2013

A winery in France built with Hempcrete bricks and making biodynamic wines. yum.

A winery in France built with Hempcrete bricks and making biodynamic wines. yum.

Château Hemp? | News | News & Features | Wine Spectator
www.winespectator.com
When he started planning a new winery for Château Maris in southern France's Languedoc region, Robert Eden looked at natural options such as stone, rammed earth and even straw. What he ended up choosing was something that, at least in certain crowds, elicits quips about marijuana—hemp. But it's no j… …read more    

Chair Brenda Ford calls to ban GMOs, or further introduction of GMOs, on Hawaii'…

Chair Brenda Ford calls to ban GMOs, or further introduction of GMOs, on Hawaii's Big Island during the Hawaii County Council Committee on Public Safety: NO MORE GMOs!

Committee Chair Brenda Ford blasts bill, GMOs
following two days of public testimony earlier, the Hawaii County Council Committee on Public Safety & Mass Transit convened Aug 6, 2013 for discussion and d… …read more    

Latest news about couple arrested for dagga A couple, believed to be among the…

Latest news about couple arrested for dagga

A couple, believed to be among the country’s biggest dealers in dagga, appeared in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday with four of their alleged drug runners.

Robert Tsholele, 32, his wife, Moory Mofokeng, 20, of Lesotho, Karabo Joene, 29, Clement Mmcibe, 28, Fusi Kere, 23, and Filipi Matsibulo, 28, told Magistrate Ashin Singh they all intended to plead guilty to multiple counts of dealing in dagga.

The accused were arrested during a raid in the Copesville informal settlement of Swapo on Friday after a six-month undercover operation.

The amount of dagga involved in connection with all six charges totals 204kg, believed to have been trafficked into the province from Lesotho.

All the accused were remanded in custody until September 2.

Six appear on dagga dealing charges – Daily News | News | IOL.co.za
www.iol.co.za
A couple, believed to be among the country’s biggest dealers in dagga, appeared in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday with four of their alleged drug runners. …read more    

A 40-year-old man operating a phone business from a container in Katlehong was a…

A 40-year-old man operating a phone business from a container in Katlehong was arrested on 5 August for supplementing his business income by selling dagga.

Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) Kathorus Crime Prevention Unit members received a tip-off from members of the community, resulting in the arrest of the suspect.

The suspect was found with dagga to the value of approximately R4000 stashed in his phone shop container at the intersection of Moagi and Brickfield Roads. He was charged at Katlehong Ramokunupi Police Station.

The suspect appeared in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court on 6 August facing charges of possession and dealing in dagga.

…read more    

Genetically engineered crops have led to an increase in overall pesticide use du…

Genetically engineered crops have led to an increase in overall pesticide use due to Superweeds & Superbugs (yeah. We knew that, & so did the CHEMICAL CORPORATIONS!)

Pesticide Use Ramping Up As GMO Crop Technology Backfires, Study Claims
www.huffingtonpost.com
By Carey Gillam (Reuters) – U.S. farmers are using more hazardous pesticides to fight weeds and insects due largely to heavy adoption of genetically modified crop technologies that are sparking a rise of “superweeds” and hard-to-kill insects, according to a newly released study. Genetically engineer… …read more    

Dagga accused for Masunga suicide threats. The school head, Bana Letsholathebe…

Dagga accused for Masunga suicide threats.

The school head, Bana Letsholathebe told a workshop last week that “suspected dagga residue was discovered in some of the students' dormitories”. In addition, small packets stuffed with a greenish material were discovered in one of the Form V classes.”We concluded that some of our students were taking the prohibited drug hence we decided to hold this workshop,” she said. She added that the school wants to nip the dagga smoking habit and threats to commit suicide in the bud. She said it all started when the suicidal students wrote notes.

“But before taking their own lives, the school authorities managed to talk to them and arrest the situation,” she said on the sidelines of the workshop on Thursday.The seemingly devastated school head said the students give mystifying reasons when quizzed as to why they threatened to kill themselves. She said some start by blaming their parents for neglecting them. Later they change and say something else.Letsholathebe said they referred the suicide cases to the police who helped them to establish that the students must have been taking drugs.

Masunga Police Station assistant commander, Superintendent Boikhutso Kaisara said it is scientifically proven that one can think of taking his/her life after consuming dagga. “So it is imperative to teach our students to refrain totally from smoking dagga and other related drugs to avoid cases of suicide,” he advised. Kaisara said the police are working day and night to ensure that they find the source of the drug. “We need to find the source,” he said.Kaisara said the suppliers will pay dearly for polluting society.He pleaded with members of the public to help the police with information that could result in the arrest of the drug dealers.

The Monitor :: Masunga suicide threats linked to dagga
www.mmegi.bw
MASUNGA: Suicide threats by students at Masunga Senior Secondary School in the North East recently have been linked to drug abuse. …read more    

Mark Lyin'ass & other GMO shills pushing Defective Products on Africa, while the…

Mark Lyin'ass & other GMO shills pushing Defective Products on Africa, while the developed world rejects them. They're after our seeds & fertile soil & water resources.

'Biotech ambassadors' engaging in massive Monsanto-backed PR operations to push GMOs into Africa
www.naturalnews.com
'Biotech ambassadors' engaging in massive Monsanto-backed PR operations to push GMOs into Africa …read more    

Last Call. Our GMO Authorities are approving "Agent Orange" Maize in South Afri…

Last Call. Our GMO Authorities are approving “Agent Orange” Maize in South Africa.Ask Vietnam how that worked for them. We urgently need a Parliamentary Hearing on GMOs. Please sign & share the petition.

Timeline Photos
Dear friends, this is a last call to sign our petition if you have not already done so. Many thanks to the 2915 who have. http://www.acbio.org.za/activist/index.php?m=u&f=dsp&petitionID=4 …read more    

There is no doubt in my mind, weed is the mother of all healing! Mentally and ph…

There is no doubt in my mind, weed is the mother of all healing! Mentally and physically!
♥ Ma Baker

Photos of support MEDICAL marij-uana
Hello yall! My precious son, Landon, was only 2.5 when he was diagnosed with T-Cell ALL (Leukemia). At the time of diagnosis he was given only a 10% chance of living through the first 24-48 hours of treatment as the Leukemia was growing at a very rapid rate. Chemo was the only option given to us to save his life. As we got started with the chemo treatments we began to research and learn the extremely dangerous and toxic side effects of what chemo does to the body. Chemo kills ALL cells in the body, not just the cancer cells. Watching your 2.5 year old son go from vibrant health to so weak and sick he could not walk or get out of bed was devastating. He lost 50% of his body weight, lost all muscle, puked for days at a time, had no appetite, was in constant pain, and was basically wasting away before our very eyes. All of his hair fell out, his eyes sunk into the back of his skull, all of his bones stuck out, he was hospitalized twice for infections due to the chemo killing his immune system, as well as him becoming dependent on the narcotic pain killers of morphine and oxy drugs. . We knew we had to do something so we started researching and through a series of events and people got connect with The Realm Of Caring, located in Colorado Springs. Seeking this Cannabis treatment required me and Landon to move to Colorado to be able to start seeing a doctor and obtain his red card to start treatment. The results were almost immediate once he started on the Charlottes Web oils. He finally began to sleep through the night, the nightmares and terrors went away, the pain vanished, he regained his appetite, he started eating, his energy started coming back, he was weaned of all narcotic pain medications, slowly but surely he started to regain all that chemo and cancer had robbed him of. I still find it amusing that Landon had a prescription for synthetic marijuana to increase his appetite, yet it was illegal for him to be given a prescription for the natural plant itself, that I had to relocate us entirely to be able to do this treatment. We ended chemo 9 months into the 4 year stint…The Realm of Caring and the high CBD oil that they have developed saved Landon’s life. It brought him health even in the midst of chemo, it brought him peace and healed his body. We have no regrets and we are so thankful that God led us to Joel and Amanda Stanley with the Realm of Caring!! PLEASE HELP US SHARE HIS STORY! …read more    

Find meaning. Distinguish melancholy from sadness. Go out for a walk. It doesn’t…

Find meaning. Distinguish melancholy
from sadness.
Go out for a walk. It doesn’t have to
be a romantic walk in the park,
spring at its most spectacular
moment, flowers and smells and
outstanding poetical imagery
smoothly transferring you into
another world. It doesn’t have to be
a walk during which you’ll have
multiple life epiphanies and discover
meanings no other brain ever
managed to encounter. Do not be
afraid of spending quality time by
yourself. Find meaning or don’t find
meaning but “steal” some time and
give it freely and exclusively to your
own self. Opt for privacy and
solitude. That doesn’t make you
antisocial or cause you to reject the
rest of the world. But you need to
breathe. And you need to be. …read more    

Your Inner Bad Ass

Your Inner Bad Ass By Sophia Love, published on August 26, 2013 Embrace your inner bad ass. Forget the inner child. That was when you needed taking care of. You can take care of yourself. Twenty or seventy, your age has nothing to do with this. Midwife or firefighter, your occupation doesn’t matter. …read more    

“For more than two years, Moscow has demanded that any change of government in S…

“For more than two years, Moscow has demanded that any change of government in Syria must be carried out via a political process in which Assad must be part, and that no talks on Damascus' future can be predicated on Assad's exit from power…

“Expressing concern about statements suggesting NATO had the right to intervene after the chemical attack without securing the approval of the United Nations, Lavrov said the unapproved use of force would “sharply aggravate” the situation…”

— A complete bypass of the UN, which at this point is only a declared new option, would change the calculus considerably and create an incomprehensibly dangerous situation. A complete regional conflict would be likely and – even though Russia says it has no intention of getting involved – that position would assuredly be revisited if Iran responded militarily. Some months ago Iran announced that 4,000 Revolutionary Guards had been dispatched to Damascus. China has repeatedly and consistently declared that if Iran is attacked it will protect its investments there.

I remain unconvinced that this is an inevitability and – as I have done so many times before – I refuse to say that World War III has begun. Because it didn’t… and it hasn’t yet.

All that aside, if the attacks do take place it would appear that – given the totality of the world’s situation – The Powers That Were will have pushed the “Fuck It” button. In that case there will be little to discuss afterwards anyway. We move further and further away from where all seven billion of us need to be. — MCR

Russia warns against military intervention in Syria
www.reuters.com
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia warned Western powers on Monday against any military intervention in Syria, saying the use of force without a U.N. mandate would violate international law.Foreign Minister Sergei …read more    

This news clip is one of THE most progressive news items we have seen to date. T…

This news clip is one of THE most progressive news items we have seen to date. The South African drug legalisation debate is in full swing it would seem.

Legalising drugs in the spotlight
August 24 – The drug trade is at the heart of the tragic cycle of violence in Manenberg, Mitchells Plain and other areas on the Cape Flats and it seems attem… …read more    

Couple arrested in ‘massive’ dagga bust Durban – A Kwazulu-Natal couple believe…

Couple arrested in ‘massive’ dagga bust

Durban – A Kwazulu-Natal couple believed to be among the country’s biggest dagga smugglers have been arrested near Pietermaritzburg after a six-month covert crime intelligence operation.

The police are also probing the couple’s alleged links with international drug syndicates in countries like the UK and Netherlands.

Police spokeswoman, Lieutenant Joey Jeevan, said the seized dagga was just the tip of the iceberg: “These guys are bringing in tons and tons of dagga every month. Our investigators are still quantifying the amounts. But it is multi-millions.”

A high-ranking police source said the dagga was of “very, very high quality” which attracted high-end customers locally and internationally.

The dagga – compressed into 3kg balls – was transported through the mountainous terrain in Lesotho using horses and donkeys, the source said.

“The drugs are transported across the border to a location in Underberg where bakkies and trucks wait to transport it to Pietermaritzburg,” the source said.

The couple and four alleged drug runners were expected to appear in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday on multiple charges of dealing in dagga.

The police raided the couple’s shacks across the Copesville informal settlement of Swapo on Friday.

Members of the Pietermaritzburg and provincial crime intelligence units, the Pietermaritzburg cluster drug team and Hawks, supported by the Pietermaritzburg K9 and tactical response units, seized drugs with a street value of about R350 000, as well as thousands of rand in cash.

During the six-month operation, undercover agents were sent in to make purchases of dagga.

The couple, both from Lesotho, are believed to have been operating in the province for more than 10 years.

The husband works as an electrician in Durban.

The source said the compressed balls of dagga sold for R350 each.

“The couple live in a squatter settlement which is almost impossible to access.

“We had to use more than 50 policemen and 30 vehicles to infiltrate the area,” the source said.

The drugs were found in a makeshift packaging lab with several enamel dishes containing money.

“Most of the runners are also Lesotho nationals. This is a massive, massive bust.”

The source said the operation was uncovered after an influx of dagga was noted in the KwaMashu and Inanda areas.

“Through our informer networks the couple were tracked. They have runners countrywide.”

Jeevan, confirmed that the dagga was being trafficked into KwaZulu-Natal from Lesotho.

The six arrested were all believed to be from Lesotho, and were alleged to have been receiving the drugs from a family who lived in the mountain kingdom, she said.

“It is believed that the arrested suspects have been dealing in the greater Durban, Inanda, KwaMashu and Pietermaritzburg areas,” said Jeevan.

Police provincial commissioner, Lieutenant-General Mammonye Ngobeni, said she was pleased with the arrests.

“Copesville is one of the areas that we are focusing on and we want to assure the community that despite the challenges we experience investigating drug cases we will not loosen our grip on drug dealers in the province and we will continue to invade their space.”

Earlier this month the police swooped on the Pietermaritzburg houses of alleged city drug lord couple Hoosen and Yasmin Mohamed in Mars Crescent, Northdale. The couple and seven of their alleged drug runners were arrested and charged with multiple counts of dealing in cocaine and were still in custody, awaiting their bail application. The suspects were arrested during raids after a three-year undercover operation by crime intelligence officials and the Hawks.

http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/couple-arrested-in-massive-dagga-bust-1.1568223#.Uhtvcn_T6uM …read more    

Our neighbours Swaziland are toying with the idea of decriminalising the dagga p…

Our neighbours Swaziland are toying with the idea of decriminalising the dagga plant. It's a no brainer….Swaziland is a poor country and the authorities still insist on burning their Swazi Gold.
give the plant back to the people. It's an African heritage going back centuries.

A potential high for Swaziland economy – Africa | IOL News | IOL.co.za
www.iol.co.za
South Africa's Premier Online News Source. Discover the world of IOL, News South Africa, Sport, Business, Financial, World News, Entertainment, Technology, Motoring, Travel, Property, Classifieds & more. …read more    

eNCAnews have posted a recent interview with the DC online. Thank you for the co…

eNCAnews have posted a recent interview with the DC online. Thank you for the continuing exposure guys.

Couple campaign to legalise dagga | eNCA
www.enca.com
JOHANNESBURG – While campaigns against drug abuse across the country intensify, a Johannesburg couple has taken up the fight to legalise the use of dagga in South Africa. …read more    

Modified Starch explained. But one never knows if modified starch is made from G…

Modified Starch explained. But one never knows if modified starch is made from GMOs, or if Food Manufacturers have just omitted it from the label.

Modified Food Starch Demystified | Bob's Red Mill Blog
blog.bobsredmill.com
Modified Food Starch is made by physically, enzymatically or chemically altering starch to change its inherent properties. In this instance, modified does not necessarily mean genetically modified, however some modified starches are likely made from genetically modified ingredients. Modified starche… …read more    

Die Daggazol: kortverhaal <- WTF? Jan tel die daggazol versigtig op. Dis die ee…

Die Daggazol: kortverhaal <- WTF? Jan tel die daggazol versigtig op. Dis die eerste keer dat hy sy eie een gekoop het en hy voel skoon trots daarop. Asof hy iets bereik het, asof hy onafhanklik is. Hy neem een lang trek, hou die dagga toe in sy mond sodat hy dit voel deur sy are vloei, al die pad bo na sy kop toe, dan blaas hy die rook stadig uit. Met sy duim en wysvinger, presies soos wat hy by sy ouer vriende geleer het, gee hy die zol aan vir Nico. “Nee, ou. Ek’s fine vir nou,” sê Nico, sy hande in sy sakke. “Wat praat jy dude, ons het dan laasweek gesê ons gaan bietjie ons eie zolle rook! Jy kan mos nie nou uitchicken nie.” Nico gee ‘n tree terug en glimlag skaam. “Ek weet ja, maar my pa het gevra ek moenie.” Jan hoes soos hy stik. “Jou pa? Het jy dan vir die ou toppie gesê waarmee ons besig is? Is jy van jou kop af?” Nico verdedig homself. Hy kan netsowel eerlik wees, want hy kan sien Jan is nie baie gelukkig hiermee nie. “Natuurlik het ek. Ek was onseker okei! Ek moes met iemand praat want hierdie dagga-storie het erg aan my begin knaag.” Jan lag vir Nico. “So toe besluit jy om met jou pappie te praat van alle mense. Die ou man dink seker nou ons is slegter as hondebollie,” sê hy, effens verleë. “Nee hy doen nie, my pa het my nog nooit geoordeel nie. Dis hoekom ek weet ek kan met hom praat.” Jan vra weer, “nou hoe het dit gebeur, het jy sommer net uit die bloute gesê jy’s nou ‘n daggakoppie?” Nico vryf deur sy hare. “Nee man. Ek en my pa speel mos so elke tweede Saterdag gholf, en toe ons hier by die 7de putjie kom, toe blaker ek net alles uit,” sê Nico terwyl hy met sy hande beduie. Jan staar na ‘n kol op die grond, sy oë groot en versteen asof hy in gedagte is. “O is dit? Nou waaroor gesels jy en jou pa dan nog alles?” Nico dink vir ‘n oomblik en antwoord dan meer selfversekerd. “Wel in die aande aan tafel praat ons maar meestal oor skoolgoed. Jy weet mos, ouers kan soms so knaend uitvra oor mens se lewe,” spot Nico. “Nee ek weet nie,” antwoord Jan. Hy skuifel ongemaklik rond op sy voete. “Ek en my pa praat nie regtig oor goed nie. Soms wonder ek of hy ooit weet in watter graad ek is. Hy werk seker maar te hard, ek weet nie.” Nico het simpatie met Jan. “Jissie ou dis bad,” sê hy. Jan trek weer aan die daggazol. “Ag dit kon erger wees, hy betaal my skoolgeld en kos en klere, wat meer het ‘n ou dan nodig?” Nico trek sy skouers op, maar sê dan tog. “Baie meer. Iemand wat jou raaksien en jou hoor en wat vir jou kan sê jy’s ‘n baie beter Jan as die Jan met die daggazol in sy hand.” Het jy ‘n behoefte aan so ‘n voorblad-pa in jou gesin? Maak dadelik ‘n aantekening in jou dagboek en sorg dat jy die “voorblad-pa” gesprek op 9 November bywoon.
Vaderfiguur belangrik in kind se lewe
www.kwevoel.co.za
THABAZIMBI – Die SAVF beplan om op 9 November ‘n byeenkoms by die Hervormde Kerk se kampterrein te hou om die gesprek rondom die “voorblad-pa” en gelukkige gesinne te begin. Studies het bewys dat k… …read more    

Dagga smoking causes peace amid gang violence in Cape Town An uneasy truce has…

Dagga smoking causes peace amid gang violence in Cape Town

An uneasy truce has been struck between members of rival gangs the Hard Livings and the Americans in Manenberg, on the Cape Flats. 'Friendship fires' were lit throughout the area on Friday night to celebrate what is likely to be only a pause in the violence

The troubled Cape Flats town-ship is enveloped in a cloud of bonfire and dagga smoke.

Streets are brimming with cheerful residents gathered around “friendship fires” quaffing alcohol and puffing “spliffs”.

Just weeks ago such gatherings were brought to a halt when violence between rival gangs – the Americans and the Hard Livings – reached crisis point.

Several people were caught in the crossfire of gang gun battles and sixteen schools were closed as a safety precaution.

Last week the police and city law-enforcement authorities moved into the area in force.

The bloodshed sparked a show of solidarity between the DA provincial government and the ANC.

Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa, Premier Helen Zille and Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille met on Wednesday to pave a way forward.

More than 50 people have been wounded or killed in the turf war, driven by the lucrative drugs trade, in recent weeks.

Though Zille and Mthethwa did not agree on everything they concurred that improving socio-economic conditions in the area was essential if gang violence and the drugs trade were to be eradicated.

The next day the Hard Livings and the Americans declared a truce. Community activist Mario Wanza said the Hard Livings donated money for buying the wood for the bonfires lit on Friday.

Walking along Renoster Road, also known as “the road of death”, was an Americans gangster known only as Gatsby.

He said the truce was necessary.

“When I shoot someone, I want to shoot them properly. I don't want children in the way. They have to go to school and get an education,” Gatsby said.

Despite the merriment on Friday night, tension still hung in the air. Locals gazed suspiciously at police vans snaking through the area.

They spoke in hushed tones – they did not want to be seen talking to the media.

“I am worried about my children. If I speak to you openly people will think that I am telling you their secrets,” said a man willing to identify himself only as Joe.

He has a deep fascination with gang culture and owns a collection of documentaries, including one chronicling the Hard Livings – once run by twins Rashied and Rashaad Staggie. Rashaad was killed in a vigilante attack.

In a 2005 discussion paper the Institute of Security Studies' Andre Standing revealed that gang power surged in 1994.

With the opening of the country's borders, international syndicates infiltrated South Africa easily.

“In particular, West Africans and the American mafia, Chinese triads and the Russian mafia appeared on the scene and drugs such as cocaine and heroin became more influential,” Standing said.

“The result of this tumultuous period for gangs was an increase in their power and financial base, and the rapid sophistication in, and the increased brutality of, their business practices.”

Far from the analysis and political bickering, Levi Gideon is nursing a gunshot wound.

He was returning from work to his home in Renoster Road when he was shot.

“I want the violence to stop now because it is getting bad here. You cannot trust the peace accord reached by the gangs,” said Gideon.

“After the elections politicians forget about us.”

The interview was cut short when a man emerged from a dark lane and admonished Gideon for “speaking to strangers”.

Then another man emerged and photographed The Times team and their vehicle.

Laughs, spliffs and threats
www.timeslive.co.za
It's Friday night in Manenberg. …read more    

9 dagga plants found at house worth R 146 963.97 Cape Town – Western Cape polic…

9 dagga plants found at house worth R 146 963.97

Cape Town – Western Cape police say they have discovered dagga plants growing inside a house after they responded to a tip-off about housebreaking.

The police also discovered mushroom plants and nine dagga pot plants in the yard.

The 35-year-old owner was arrested and charged with drug dealing.

All the drugs were confiscated.

The man will remain in custody and will appear in court on Monday.

Police discover dagga in house
www.news24.com
Western Cape police say they have discovered dagga plants growing inside a house after they responded to a tip-off about housebreaking. …read more    

Is Swaziland to legalize dagga trade? They certainly have the potential. Mbaban…

Is Swaziland to legalize dagga trade? They certainly have the potential.

Mbabane – Because all other ways to jumpstart its economy have failed, Swaziland might consider cashing in on one of its truly natural assets – a strain of marijuana that grows only in the tiny landlocked country.

Swaziland has few natural resources and its small internal market offers no incentive to foreign investors, who stopped coming years ago. Under sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarchy, Swaziland is stuck in a medieval time warp of all-powerful chiefs, a king who is presented by the royal family as being semi-divine and a large landless peasant population. Politically, Freedom House’s listing of Swaziland as “not free” is almost a euphemism.

But Swaziland does have dagga. Forests full of cannabis, or insangu as the Swazis call the plant, sprout in the northern mountains and rain-fed central region – like the weed it actually is.

An ounce of high-quality marijuana costs $3 (R30) on the streets of Mbabane, compared to about $241 in Europe. Because of its potency, lower grades are simply unavailable in Swaziland.

But the government does not benefit from the nation’s marijuana because the informal infrastructure that grows and trades dagga operates out of view, like any criminal enterprise.

Clearly, money is to be made on a larger scale if marijuana were decriminalised. But because drug laws date back to the colonial era when Britain administered the Swazi territory as a protectorate, beneficiaries of the dagga trade are foreign criminals. Interpol says Nigerian and South African drug runners have pipelines into Swaziland. They pay growers nominal fees for their harvests, which they export via South Africa.

Peasant farmers cultivate the weed in the crevices of hills and locations away from their homesteads, working during early morning hours to avoid detection. There are no large-scale marijuana plantations because these would be found and destroyed by police.

No Swazi grower becomes rich because the buyers pay little. The price for sale locally is depressed by the widespread availability of the weed.

That could change if Swaziland were to legalise and regulate a plant that has gained more positive publicity worldwide than anything Swaziland has thus far produced.

http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/a-potential-high-for-swaziland-economy-1.1567747#.UhsPvH_T6uM

A potential high for Swaziland economy – Africa | IOL News | IOL.co.za
www.iol.co.za
South Africa's Premier Online News Source. Discover the world of IOL, News South Africa, Sport, Business, Financial, World News, Entertainment, Technology, Motoring, Travel, Property, Classifieds & more. …read more    

The devil made me do it: drugs forced us into crime Pretoria – Drugs know no ra…

The devil made me do it: drugs forced us into crime

Pretoria – Drugs know no race, religion, gender or background – and some young South African women caught in the spiralling trap of drug abuse will do almost anything to get the next fix of their chosen drug.

This includes committing armed robbery, prostitution and lying to their parents.

In an interview with the Pretoria News, a group of young women in a rehabilitation camp organised by the Gauteng departments of community safety and social development shared their experiences.

Gillian Fredericks said she lied to her Muslim parents that she had found a job as a waitress in Joburg, yet she actually worked as a strip dancer at a strip club in Hillbrow where she made R2 000 to R3 000 a day to enable her to sustain her habit of taking crystal meth.

Sibongile Khumalo joined a male-dominated Katlehong gang of nyaope smokers as the only female member. By day she slept with men from the township for R40, just enough for the next fix of nyaope. At night she became part of a gang that robbed cigarette and bakery trucks in Katlehong and Midrand. She would be wearing a doek wrapped across most of her face and armed with a gun and Okapi knife.

Stacey Johnson said she left her job as a call centre consultant at Edcon to work for a popular Eldorado Park drug merchant. She would sell drugs, keep a record of sales, recruit girls as young as 14 to peddle drugs at schools while getting them hooked onto “lolly” (cocaine).

Kefilwe Masilo smoked dagga while pregnant, and in a desperate attempt to satisfy her demanding habit, grew dreadlocks and joined a Rastafari community to seduce “brethren” in the hope that they would buy her what she believed to be “holy”.

All four women said they started with cigarettes, then dagga and finally hard drugs – tik, cocaine and nyaope.

Of the four, three never made it past Grade 11, had a child each by their late teens and have never kept a steady job.

All four have been arrested for possession of drugs, robbery and assault.

The addicts said they were willing to kill for their drugs of choice, if not die.

Fredericks admitted to beating another teenager in Eldorado Park in 2011 with a baseball bat, putting her in an ICU unit. The victim had kept her waiting as she wanted to deliver a bag of dagga.

“Taking drugs is like being in a dark hole,” said the smart and very outspoken young woman, who was addicted to cocaine which she smoked daily out of a “lolly” pipe.

“I’d go home and abuse my mother because I was so frustrated with life. My entire family was afraid of me. But all I really wanted to tell them was that I’d been raped and expected them to love me.”

Sibongile Molefe stabbed a truck driver delivering cigarettes with an Okapi knife.

“I was afraid afterwards, but you must understand that when you are high you are out of your mind,” Molefe said.

As a nyaope addict, Molefe smoked 15 bags daily, which went for R40 each in Katlehong.

She said she became a thug, stealing cellphones from neighbours, money in the house and even dismantling her uncle’s shack one day to get money to buy the next bag to keep herself “stress-free”.

Molefe, still clearly angry, said she did not have a good relationship with her mother and she was to blame for her instability.

Her father died of TB a month after she saw him for the first time, when she was 20.

It was the robbery of a cigarette truck which had a tracker device that landed her in jail.

Molefe cried out to a social worker in Katlehong to help her, and went to a rehabilitation centre.

The young women have blamed the trauma of rape, fear of being judged or blamed after being raped, general lack of guidance from family, lack of love, broken homes, frustration and peer pressure as some of the reasons why they sought comfort from drugs.

Thapelo Moiloa, spokesman for the Department of Community Safety, said they do not have a figure of how many young women are into drugs because so many of them do not come out.

The Department of Community Safety intends to have rehabilitation camps every quarter, for young men and women, he said.

“Community Safety has linked up with the National Youth Service where former addicts speak and motivate school pupils as a way to heal themselves,” said Moiloa.

The department is working with Parliament and the Department of Social Development to classify nyaope, Moiloa said.

The Department of Community Safety has also started running a School Safety Programme where schoolchildren are being searched for drugs.

Maurithus Meiring from Drug-Free South Africa’s Pretoria office said awareness was a missing factor.

“We need to educate people before drug dealers do. If these young people knew what they were putting into their bodies, they most probably wouldn’t do it,” Meiring said, citing nyaope as a lethal concoction.

http://www.thepost.co.za/drugs-forced-us-into-crime-1.1567994#.UhsOw3_T6uM

‘Drugs forced us into crime’ – Post | IOL.co.za
www.thepost.co.za
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