by Richard Chidowore
There is growing concern within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) that increased drug trafficking and abuse could seriously erode the social and economic order of the region’s population.
This stems from the realisation that individuals are not only affected indirectly through the deterioration in standards of their communities, but also through the pain and suffering as addiction and related crimes strike closer home.
Medical research has established that drug abuse by young people in particular, could lead to rejection of authority:
“It is a time in the life cycle when the culture usually .allows greater latitude for non-conforming behaviour, a time when rejection of authority is often tolerated and thought of as a normal part of establishing independence from parents,” said Peter Lewis, a psychiatrist from Jamaica.
Scientists argue that since memory is so very important to learning, the use of drugs by young people can have serious effects as it prevents them from reaching their intellectual and social potential — ingredients thought to be important to their future personal and economic success.
It has also been suggested that drugs may predispose young people to high risk behaviour such as early sexual relationships that may result in unwanted pregnancies and infection with sexually transmitted diseases — or worse HIV infection.
Medical experts say illicit drugs are known to reduce brain energy, impairing the user’s ability to remember, feel, think, anticipate or predict.
Research also shows that, among other social and medical consequences, continual cannabis use weakens the body’s immune system and impairs normal sexual development in both males and females.
Furthermore, researchers have found a direct link between increased cannabis use, and juvenile delinquency and adult crime such as theft, truancy and school drop-out rate.
Addicted individuals are known to live with regular disruption in their lives. They often experience accidents, injuries, illness, loss of income, strained relationships and involvement in crime.
Additionally, a person who becomes addicted to a drug finds that every aspect of his or her life revolves around obtaining, maintaining and using a supply of drugs.
These addicts are controlled physically, psychologically and socially by the drug habit. “Failure to obtain a supply of the drug necessary to maintain their psychological, and often physical needs, usually result in a compulsive willingness to exploit others, often those whom they love the most,” said Lewis.
Additionally, children of drug users endure a great deal of stress and abuse as a result of living with the drug-using parent and may develop problems that persist throughout adulthood. Spouses also experience physical and psychological trauma.
A possible indirect effect of drug use is the interference in school or work activities which, in turn may contribute to economic dislocation and criminal behaviour through the closure of normal job opportunities. Perhaps the gravest concern is the question of income-generating crime among individuals with expensive drug habits and the extent to which the crime is caused by the drug costs.
Health costs include those related to nonmedical drug use, such as cost of overdose and other emergency treatment, detoxification, and long-term rehabilitation and follow-up. Indirect medical costs are less easy to assess as they may Deau.routed to malnutrition or poor health practices in general.
Although the full, regional, social and economic cost of drug abuse has yet to be quantified, about R80 million, (US$26.6m) is spent annually in treating South African drug-users alone.
Highly important in this regard is of course the relationship between drug use and HIV infection, and the cost associated with caring for individuals suffering from AIDS.
There is now growing realisation within the SADC region that urgent steps are needed to prevent international drug cartels from exerting influence over state officials. Corruption and bribery of state officials such as immigration and customs officers is rampant and has to be rooted out.
“Organised crime is having a field day in South Africa and we have to ask ourselves why state employees have become easy prey for criminal gangs,” said South Africa’s Justice Minister, Dullah Omar.
Minister Omar says the SADC region has to give high-level attention to combating drug trafficking if the goal of building communities and restoring or creating the safety and security of the region’s population is to be met.
It is also widely recognised that international drug trafficking is one of the main causes of other crimes such as money laundering, corruption and violence which not only undermine the integrity and moral fibre of people, but also dislocates economies.
A recent joint SADC/European Community conference in Mmabatho, South Africa on drug trafficking in southern Africa adopted a SADC draft protocol aimed at combating illicit drug-trafficking in the region.
If adopted by the SADC summit, the protocol is expected to go a long way in curbing the growing problem in the sub-region.
Crime syndicates are known to have the capacity to influence some governments with their sophisticated schemes of setting up big businesses and to get appointed to high-profile positions.
“Just imagine the terrible danger to our economy considering that the drug-business in Africa alone has reached proportions in excess of 1.4 billion Rands laundered through local banks,” said Justice Omar.
illicit drug industry worldwide is US$SOO billion compared to Overseas Development Aid of US$60 billion.
He said the UNDCP’s strategy has been to concentrate on forming sub-regional programmes to get countries working together to solve their drug problems, with special attention given to encouraging’ formation of national coordinating bodies which deal with multisectoral drug control matters.
Some of the UNDCP assistance programmes include drug sniffer dogs and handler training, forensic laboratory training and drug detection at sea ports And terminals.
SADC countries that have benefited from UNDC Passistance include Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe and the capacity to deal with the illicit drug trafficking is gradually increasing throughout the region.
South African Narcotics Bureau (Sanab) intelligence reveals a sharp rise in the smuggling of cocaine into west and southern Africa via Lagos and Cape Town.
South Africa is being served through Argentina and Chile, and cocaine seizures in South Africa in 1993 were second only to seizures in Nigeria on the African continent.
UNDCP statistics show that heroin from the so-called “Golden Triangle” (Myanmar, Laos and Thailand) and the “Golden Crescent” (Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran) is routed to South Africa through Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, India and Dubai.
Recent aerial surveys by Sanab and the South African Air Force revealed that nearly 83 000 hectares of land in South Africa is being cultivated for dagga, of which some 80 000 hectares alone are located in the former Transkei homeland.
According to organised crime chief of the National Crime Investigation Service, Major General Neels – Venter, the dagga industry in the South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana and Swaziland is worth about R54 billion collectively a year.
“Our focus is on regional cooperation for the socioeconomic development of our sub-continent For the region to realise its full economic potential, it is essential that major criminal activities such as drug trafficking and money-laundering be stamped out.
These are crimes which do not respect international boundaries,” said SA deputy Foreign Minister, Aziz Pahad. (SARDC)
