AS the world prepares to celebrate International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking (Idada), drug lords from around the globe are asserting an increasingly stronger hold on South Africa.
As far as the South African Narcotics Bureau (Sanab) Superintendent Andre Brits knows though, there will be no special local celebrations for Idada this year. Instead, it will be just another day for him and his men. Despite the general apathy in South Africa concerning the day, he believes it is time to create awareness towards trafficking.
The United Nations (UN), which began its ”Decade Against Drug Abuse” in 1991 is also the founder of the Idada, which is observed every June 26. Marking the day came about after a UN conference in Vienna in June 1987, which adopted a ”forward-looking drug control strategy that saw the first Idada celebrated the following year.
This year’s Idada theme is ”facing reality, denial, corruption and violence,” says Paul Salay, the UN’s assistant regional representative. He says plans for local celebrations may include a major event in Bloemfontein and an open day at a Soweto treatment and rehabilitation centre, which hopes to show users that they have alternatives. He believes that people under the effect of alcohol and drugs are more likely to commit crime and contribute to the spread of HIV/Aids through unsafe sexual practices.
And while some countries celebrate Idada with style, other celebrations have varied from pathetic to horrific. Last year China shot 71 drug traffickers to mark the occasion and according to the Ottawa Citizen, ”In the week leading up to the UN’s Drug Fest, China either sentenced to death or executed another 98 traffickers, suggesting there’s no shortage of Chinese pushers to shoot.” As China shot its drug offenders, The Boston Globe reported that Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban sent an appeal to UN Secretary General Kofi Anan, asking for foreign aid to ”help stem the production of opium after forecasts of a bumper crop in the country,” which is viewed as the world’s largest producer of the drug.
Brits says that there has been an increase in the local drug trade and the number of drug laboratories here, Dagga is exported to the Netherlands and Europe in exchange for the harder stuff, which nets an unbelievable street value. In addition to this, we are also being used as a middle-man. Only a short while ago, Brits says Sanab intercepted 1,1kg of cocaine, probably from Brazil or Columbia, on its way to Australia. Valued at approximately R800 000, its street value would have probably been much higher. Brits says after drugs have been ”cooked” (mixed), what was one gram of the substance can be made into almost four or five grams, thereby increasing the street value.
Between January and May this year alone, his men have seized over R6-million worth of drugs. A figure Brits says represents ”only a drop” of what’s out there. Heroin is apparently becoming a huge problem, while rocks — a derivative of cocaine– is not only the most dangerous and the most addictive drug but the one most commonly found in South Africa. Ecstasy and dagga on the other hand seem to remain the preferred drug of the youth and ravers.
Amazingly, it is estimated that Columbian jungle regions can produce a million dollars worth of cocaine in a single day. ”It (Idada) is working but it’s a very complex issue to deal with, with networks of traffickers looking for loopholes in the law enforcement side,” he says.
— The Teacher/Mail & Guardian, June 5, 2000.
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