Crack cocaine is one of the most popular drugs in the Cape Peninsula. Marianne Merten reports
Crack cocaine, or “rock” as it is known on the street, is fast becoming the drug of choice in the Cape Peninsula, according to researchers, addicts and drug counsellors, but the South African Narcotics Bureau (Sanab) regards it as no more of a threat than dagga.
While the Department of Agriculture has for years cultivated fields of dagga in the north of the country to test herbicides used to destroy dagga fields, only one national conference has been held on crack, in September 1996.
In a statement to the Mail & Guardian, Sanab says: “Crack is not considered a more serious threat than other drugs. No drugs are singled out, the danger each drug poses to society are [sic] of equal importance.”
It’s an overcast weekday in Hanover Park. A well-dressed man hands over the cash to get his fix. An almost toothless man grins from behind a small opening in the steel door and hands him two rocks. Neighbours chat over fences and monitor the movements.
Similar transactions happen at the many crackhouses on the Cape Flats and inner-city suburbs. The houses are relatively easily to spot. Most have heavy steel doors with a small opening. Regular customers are allowed to smoke the crack inside. Otherwise it’s a sale and away.
Crack is easy to make with normal household implements like pots and empty glass containers. A former addict says most abusers have found their own way to “cook” it. The cocaine powder is mixed with bicarbonate of soda and cooked to get the highly addictive crack rocks for “free-basing”. Rocks are available from R60 to R100 for regular size, or half-size (a “50”) at R50.
The rock is smoked, preferably with a glass pipe because a metal pipe heats up too much. Crack is 90% pure compared to cocaine, which is cut down to about 20%. As a result, crack is highly addictive.
Since the start of the year Western Cape police have seized record quantities of cocaine and crack. The latest bust – just under half a kilogram of the crack crystals plus packaging and scales – was made last month in a Milnerton flat.
Ironically, detectives arrested family members of alleged Milnerton drug dealer Gavin Carolus just days after he successfully challenged the seizure of his assets by the special investigation unit into organised crime.
In April police seized almost 2kg of cocaine from a Peruvian backpacker who pointed detectives to a house in the upmarket coastal suburb Llandudno, where another 2kg of cocaine were found. A further 2kg were seized in a Sea Point flat after a tip-off from an overseas law enforcement agency.
Yet Superintendent Hennie Marais, head of Sanab on the Cape Peninsula, says Mandrax and dagga are still the most abused illegal substances. “Dagga is still illegal. If we have information, we must act,” he says, while confirming crack is becoming a bigger problem.
He says the change from Mandrax, a sedative tablet, to crack has been relatively easy because both drugs are smoked. There are no specific projects to tackle the crack wave which in the United States in the early Nineties sparked a rise in urban violent crime.
“We have been lucky to the extent that we are always a couple of years behind Johannesburg,” Marais says. But he adds there is definitely a crack- related increase in crime. Glass tubes and old syringes are stolen from hospitals to be converted into crack pipes.
Marais says the return of South Africa to the international fold has made drugs more easily accessible. Cocaine comes from South America via Europe or African countries, passing through Johannesburg on planes, buses, trains or long-distance taxis.
The Sanab head admits there is little the police could do except react on information they received or conduct random checks. Once police cracked down on a particular route, dealers change their methods.
Based on the 10% to 15% of drugs seized, police estimate the drug trade in the Peninsula is worth several billion rand yearly. Marais shrugs. There are only 27 detectives active at any given time across the Peninsula, considering sick leave, holidays and secondments. “Unfortunately we are always a step behind,” he says.
There are no exact figures on how many crack addicts there are. The Cape Town Drug Counselling Centre says the numbers are definitely up. Acting director Kathy Karassellos says one of the most worrying factors is the number of young people aged between 12 and 19 coming for help, but it is also a sign the centre’s outreach programme is working.
“Drugs are right out there, no matter what community abusers come from. There are drugs in school. Drugs are not something that happens to someone else’s child.”
Common factors leading to addiction are often a weak self-confidence and low self-esteem. Recovery depends on individual reasons. For some not being able to care for their pet, not being able to get up in the morning or losing their jobs is the motivation to seek help. She says the success rate depends on an addict’s motivation. Being forced into rehabilitation by family, friends or authorities does not work.
Stepping Stones is a private clinic where drug addicts undergo a 12-step programme, starting with the recognition that drug addiction is a disease which will stay with a person for the rest of their lives. Director Peter Powis says crack and heroin abuse is on the up and users are becoming younger.
“Mandrax used to be the drug of choice. That’s quickly changing. Crack is becoming the drug of choice and it’s bringing people to their knees.”
For help, contact the Cape Town Drug Counselling Centre at (021) 447-8026 or Stepping Stones at (021) 783-4230.