‘Cannabis should be legalised in UK’

Cannabis should be legalised in Britain and all other personal drug use decriminalised, delegates voted on Sunday by an overwhelming margin.

They called for the creation of a panel to review the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act so that “possession of any controlled drug for personal use would not be a criminal offence”.

The motion said those caught with hard drugs should be dispatched to a panel of social workers.

It also paved the way for the British government to set up “a strictly controlled and regulated cannabis market” - effectively legalising the drug.

Ewan Hoyle, from South Glasgow, proposed the policy and told the conference that politicians had not tackled the issue because of “cowardice”.

He said: “The motion calls for models of cannabis regulation to be investigated. I personally favour sale from pharmacies.”

George Miles, a delegate sporting a green T-shirt emblazoned with the image of a cannabis leaf, declared: “John Lennon and Eric Clapton didn’t say legalise heroin or cocaine, but Bob Marley says legalise cannabis.”

The plans immediately become binding Liberal Democrat policy, though they will not be enacted by the government because they are not in the coalition agreement.

The proposals will be opposed not just by the Tories but also by the Labour Party, which got into a huge mess over the classification of cannabis.

When the Blair government reduced it to a Class C drug, evidence from scientists about its psychotic properties caused a U-turn.

Tory MP Charles Walker said the Lib Dem motion “sends out the message that taking drugs is okay but it is not”.

He added: “If the Liberal Democrats think taking heroin, cocaine and smoking skunk is OK then that is up to them but the government and I think most people in Britain do not agree with them.” - Daily Mail

‘Alcohol abuse costs SA’

Alcohol abuse costs South Africa's economy R9 billion a year, Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Elizabeth Thabethe said on Monday.

This amounted to one percent of the country's gross domestic product, she told the start of a Sobriety Week campaign in Pretoria, according to a statement issued by her office.

“According to the World Health Organisation, the annual liquor consumption by South Africans amounts to 7.81 litres of pure alcohol per person. This level of consumption ranks South Africa 52nd on a list of 191 countries.”

The effects of alcohol abuse on the economy could be seen in absenteeism, poor productivity, high job turnover, interpersonal conflict, injuries and damage to property.

The campaign called on all South Africans to ensure fellow citizens were protected from the irresponsible consumption of, and trading in, alcohol.

Public awareness and education campaigns would be launched in areas where alcohol abuse was most prevalent. - Sapa

WC substance abuse 'fuels mental illness'

Western Cape Health Department officials fear the province may have the highest incidence of mental illness in the country due to high levels of substance abuse.About 75 percent of patients admitted to psychiatric institutions have a history of drug or alcohol abuse.

Health Department officials said more institutions are needed as the patient load increases.

The new Somerset Hospital unveiled its bigger psychiatric unit on Tuesday.

The psychiatric unit’s walls are painted stark white and have bright fluorescent lighting.

Patients addicted to tik, dagga, heroin and alcohol share rooms while undergoing treatment.

One patient dressed in a blue gown banged on his room door in a bid for attention.

If there are psychotic mood swings and outburst patients are isolated in a small room with just a mattress on the floor.

The Health Department’s Dr Linda Hering said nurses are trained to deal with dangerous situations.

Some patients stay an average of five and a half days at a facility, but many of the same patients return over and over for treatment.

(Edited by Lindiwe Mlandu)

Source

Jackson FUCKING IDIOT Mthembu!

A warning from this poster: Jackson FUCKING IDIOT Mthembu , please call me so I can say this to your face!

The Drunk Driving ANC Spokesasshole can't take the blame for failing to raise his own child, who now has a drug problem.

So now he wants to tell society what's it's problems are so that they can fix the problems. YOU DIDN'T NOTICE FOR 5 YEARS - ehm too busy drinking and driving?!?!?!?!

OH Jackson FUCKING IDIOT Mthembu! YOU ARE A FUCKING IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You're bad example is WHY YOUR child turned out like this - don't fucking blame anyone else boet!

Dagga plantation found in Atteridgeville

Police discovered a two hectare dagga plantation in Atteridgeville, Pretoria, with an estimated street value of R5-million.

"We've never come across such a huge dagga plantation in Tshwane... It is [larger than] two rugby fields," City of Tshwane spokesman William Baloyi said on Thursday morning. It was located in the Brazzaville informal settlement.

Some 60 officials from the parks division started cutting it down at 9am. It would then be burnt down. This would probably take the whole day.

The discovery was made following a tip-off from local residents.

Baloyi acknowledged Tshwane had a large drugs problem, particularly in schools.

- Timeslive

Time To Decriminalise Drugs? – South African Medical Journal

An article published in the Feb 2011 edition of South African Medical Journal (SAMJ). The article, written by JP de V van Niekerk, editor of SAMJ and former Dean of the UCT faculty of Health Sciencies, broadly covers the failed war on drugs and how South Africa needs to rethink its drug policies. JP de Van Niekerk will also be on on radio today at 3:30pm and will be discussing these issues further. You can tune in on 567 Cape Talk if you’re in Cape Town, or radio 702 if you’re in Johannesburg. Alternatively, you can stream it online.

The drug trade has increased globally in intensity and reach, and substance abuse in South Africa has escalated rapidly. Drug misuse is a major social, legal and public health challenge despite the war on drugs, in which the USA has a disproportionate influence. Why this lack of progress and what can be done about it?

The use of psychotropic substances is as old as human history. Some use drugs as part of religious observations. The majority of people who partake of drugs use them for recreational purposes. Some become addicted and may cause harm to themselves, their families and society. If drugs are bad it seems logical to wage war on them. However, although ‘get tough’ measures sound attractive they are often counterproductive.

Attempts to stem evil

Over the centuries, countries, societies and communities have fruitlessly tried to regulate perceived evils, often related to powerful human needs and drives, namely sex, food and seeking happiness. The Victorians were obsessed with what they perceived as the evils of sex, leading to distorted teachings and actions and much unnecessary emotional suffering.

Despite alcohol having been used since antiquity, many countries have tried prohibiting its use. The most familiar is the failed prohibition experiment in the USA from 1920 to 1933. Breweries and distillers in surrounding countries flourished as widespread bootlegging and organised crime took control of the distribution of alcohol in the USA. Countries have gone to war over drugs: the Opium Wars (1839 – 1842, 1856 – 1860) resulted from trade disputes between China and the British Empire after China sought to limit illegal British opium trafficking. China lost the wars and had to tolerate the opium trade. War-torn Afghanistan now cultivates as much as 90% of the world’s opium, its trade also supporting the Taliban.

In the USA Richard Nixon launched the war on drugs in 1970. Another lifestyle result of human excesses is the rising tide of obesity, though war has not yet been declared on foods.

Harmful substances

The International Narcotics Control Board established by the United Nations under the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961, lists a vast spectrum of narcotic drugs, psychotropic agents and precursors ‘under international control’. However, the substances that cause by far the most damage to individuals and societies, namely alcohol, cigarette smoking and prescription medicines, are not illegal. (To this we should perhaps add the lifestyle matters of food and sex?)

Harmful drugs are regulated according to classification systems that purport to relate to the harms and risks of each drug. Nutt and colleagues found that the current classification of drugs is unscientific, unsystematic and arbitrary. Using an evidence-based expert delphic procedure they developed and explored a rational scale to assess the harms of illicit drugs and also included five legal drugs of misuse (alcohol, khat, solvents, alkyl nitrates and tobacco). They provide a systemic methodology and process that could benefit regulatory bodies in assessing the harm of drugs of abuse. Their ranking, based on categories of harm (physical harm, dependence, effects on families, communities and society), differed from those in current use. Tobacco and alcohol together account for about 90% of all drug-related deaths in the UK. They are the most widely used unclassified substances, but were both ranked in the top 10 higher harm group and cannabis (marijuana) in the lower 10 (out of 20). Drugs that can be taken intravenously, such as heroin, carry a high risk of death and score highly. Their results also emphasise that excluding alcohol and tobacco from the Misuse of Drugs Act is, from a scientific perspective, arbitrary and that there is no clear distinction between socially acceptable and illicit substances.

Effects of the drug wars

Declaring war means that one must have enemies. In the USA these are the drug dealers but also the users. A large percentage of the population has used and currently uses illegal recreational substances such as marijuana and cocaine. Apprehending these ‘enemies’ has resulted in the USA having the world’s largest prison population, 738 per 100 000 people (other examples per 100000 people are 335 for South Africa, 124 for the UK and 30 for India). A large sector of the population is thus criminalised.

Producer countries have been politically destabilised by the US war on drugs. Huge profits made from cocaine and other drugs from countries such as Colombia, Bolivia, Peru and Brazil, largely because they are illegal in the USA, have resulted in flourishing drug cartels. Those controlling the supply routes to the USA through Mexico and Caribbean countries wreak havoc through their criminal paramilitary and guerrilla groups, with murder, kidnapping, bribery and corruption, money laundering, etc. Coca has been cultivated for centuries in the Andes. Its legitimate uses include chewing the leaves for their mild stimulant and appetite suppression effects, and as a tea that reduces the effects of altitude sickness. Coca farmers are often at the difficult and potentially violent intersection of government-sponsored eradication efforts, illegal cocaine producers and traffickers seeking coca supplies, anti-government paramilitary forces trafficking in cocaine as a source of revolutionary funding, and the hardships of rural subsistence farming. Further pressure to grow coca for the cocaine trade is caused by the dumping of subsidised surpluses of fruit, vegetables, grain, etc., mainly by the USA and European Union.

Drug prohibition inevitably leads to political and police corruption. Jackie Selebi, former head of South Africa’s police and Interpol President, was found guilty of corruption and sentenced for accepting bribes from a drug trafficker in 2010. ‘Wars’ on, for example, local growers of coca, marijuana and poppies increase the price of drugs, lessen competition, and encourage cartels by increasing their potential profits. People who become addicted to substances often cannot fund the high prices of illicit products and turn to drug running, robbery and other criminal methods to meet their needs.

Regulation/legislation

Regulations vary widely from country to country. The UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961, under the auspices of which the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) was established, was regarded as a milestone in the history of international drug control by its proponents. The Single Convention codified multilateral treaties on drug control, including the cultivation of plants grown as the raw material of narcotic drugs. Its principal objectives are to limit the possession, use, trade, distribution, import, export, manufacture and production of drugs exclusively to medical and scientific purposes and to deter and discourage drug traffickers through international co-operation. The INCB monitors apparent violations of the treaties and addresses those within its mandate.

In the USA, where marijuana may be used for medical use in several states, there is a strong growing movement to have it legalised. However, the official US stance is to strengthen the war on marijuana. Elected officials are willing to acknowledge the failure of the drug war in private, but the degeneration of their political discourse and campaign tactics has made reforming the drug war synonymous with political suicide. And since politicians have short-term interests, who represents the interests of future generations?

South Africa has given much thought and effort to combating the abuse of illicit and legal substances. The Prevention and Treatment for Substance Abuse Act No. 70, 2008, and the National Drug Master Plan 2006 – 2011 seek to reduce demand, reduce harm and reduce the supply of illicit substances (including education and raising awareness) and associated crimes through law enforcement, prevention of community-based substance abuse, early intervention, drug treatment (including rehabilitation and risk reduction) and research. They are supported by many other Acts, government departments, statutory bodies, non-governmental organisations, etc. The City of Cape Town has an Operational Alcohol and Drug Strategy that recognises that the whole community is responsible for tackling the problem. This requires systematic, multifaceted, integrated responses; social inclusiveness; commitment to funding and resource allocation; and recognition that demand reduction is a key principle. The Central Drug Authority is a statutory body established to co-ordinate and direct drug counteraction across South Africa on both the demand and supply side. Further legal sanction is provided by the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act No. 140 of 1992, which determines what the legal acts are in terms of possession, distribution, manufacture, etc. of ‘any dependence-producing substance; or any dangerous dependence-producing substance or any undesirable dependence-producing substance’. South Africa is signatory to the UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961, and other international and regional agreements concerning drugs.

The case for decriminalisation

The war on drugs has failed! Humans have always taken psychoactive substances and prohibition has never kept them from doing so. The international evidence suggests that drug policy has very limited impact on the overall level of drug use. Making people criminals for taking psychoactive substances is in itself criminal, for one is dealing with, at worst, a vice but not a crime.

The two most widely used legal drugs, alcohol and tobacco, lie in the upper half of the harms ranking. This important information should surely be taken into account in public debate on illegal drug use. Discussions based on formal assessment of harm rather than on prejudice and assumptions would enable a more rational debate about the relative risks and harms of drugs. Pragmatism is urgently needed in debates about these issues and our responses to them. The tone of our debate about responses to the treatment and supervision of drug-dependent offenders should change. Focusing on enforcement and compliance further erodes discretion for those responsible for treating and supervising such offenders. Policy should aim to reduce the harm that drugs cause, and not to embroil more people in the criminal justice system. Society should have some faith in the capacity of drug-using offenders to change, and actively assist and enable them to achieve this goal.

People with a history of drug problems are seen as blameworthy and to be feared. Stigma is a major barrier to their successful recovery and prevents them from playing a more positive role in communities and re-integrating into society. People recovering from drug dependence should be part of the normal community. Such actions have been successfully implemented in some European countries. In the USA there is increasing support for initiatives such as the California Proposition 19, also known as the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, that would have legalised various marijuana-related activities, allowed local governments to regulate and collect marijuana-related fees and taxes, and authorised various criminal and civil penalties.

While much of South Africa’s approach to drug abuse is progressive and enlightened, evidence-based facts and sober reflection suggest that our strategies require re-thinking.

• The Vision of the National Drug Master Plan is a drug-free society. Human history and international experience clearly demonstrate that this does not reflect reality. We should acknowledge this and develop better ways of dealing with human frailty.
• A more evidence-based, nuanced approach to the harms of drugs is required. For example, it makes no sense to legalise the use of alcohol and tobacco but not the less dangerous cannabis
  (which also has beneficial effects).
• Using psychoactive substances may be a vice but should not be considered to be a crime, thus criminalising a large proportion of our citizens.
• Making drugs illicit cedes their control to the drug dealer.
• Escalating the drug war makes drugs more valuable and attracts more participants into the illicit drug economy.
• Improved state control of substances, as with alcohol and cigarettes, could provide taxes and significantly reduce the roles of drug dealers.

A recent MRC Research Brief outlines strategies to effectively address substance abuse problems among young people, but decriminalisation is not mentioned. It is time to face realities squarely and rationally debate the question of decriminalisation. Vested interests in maintaining the status quo will have unexpected support from those who stand to lose the most, namely the drug dealers and those in their pay (including the law and politics). All the more reason to proceed!

J P de V van Niekerk
Managing Editor – South African Medical Journal

1. The Prevention and Treatment for Substance Abuse Act No. 70, 2008.
2. National Drug Master Plan 2006-2011.
3. UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961.
4. Nutt D, King LA, Saulsbury W, Blakemore C. Development of a rational scale to assess the harm of drugs of potential misuse. Lancet 2007;369:1047-1053.
5. http://www.allcountries.org/ranks/prison_incarceration_rates_of_countries_2007.html (accessed 22 December 2010).
6. War on drugs. 2010. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Drugs (accessed 7 January 2011).
7. Statement from ONDCP Director R Gil Kerlikowske. Why marijuana legalization would compromise public health and public safety. http://ondcp.gov/news/speech10/030410_Chief.pdf (accessed 22 December 2010).
8. Tree S. How to get politicians to admit in public that the drug war has been a complete failure. 2010 Institute for Policy Studies. http://www.ips-dc.org/articles/politicians_drug_war_failure (accessed 10 November 2010).
9. City of Cape Town Draft Operational Drug & Alcohol Strategy 2007-2010.
10. Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act No. 140 of 1992.
11. Feiling T. The Candy Machine: How Cocaine Took Over the World. Penguin Books, 2009.
12. McSweeney T, Turnbull PJ, Hough M. The Treatment and Supervision of Drug-Dependent Offenders. A Review of the Literature Prepared for the UK Drug Policy Commission. London: Institute for Criminal Policy Research, King’s College London, 2008.
13. http://www.ukdpc.org.uk/publications.shtml (accessed 21 December 2010).
14. Ware MA, Wang T, Shapiro S, et al. Smoke cannabis for chronic neuropathic pain: a randomized
controlled trial. CMAJ 2010;182:1515-1521.
15. Morojele NK, Parry CDH, Brook JS. Substance abuse and the young: Taking action. MRC Research Brief, 2009. http://www.sahealthinfo.org/admodule/substance2009.pdf (accessed 7 January 2011).
16. Kolhatkar S. Reefer sadness. Bloomberg Businessweek 2010; 7 Nov: 62-65.

- SAMJ

Read the SAMJ Responses

Teens arrested over dagga plantation

Five 14-year-old high school pupils were arrested on Tuesday in Lenasia South for allegedly owning a dagga plantation and dealing in the drug, Gauteng police said.

The eight square metre plantation was discovered when a boy reported to the police after smelling dagga in the area, Lieutenant-Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said.

After being questioned, the boy led the police to the plantation where they found the four boys and arrested them.

“Some of the dagga plants were already picked up and dried. More schoolboys might have been involved.

“It is suspected that they were smoking it and a possibility that they were also selling it to other school children may not be ruled out,” Dlamini said.

The boys would be released to their parents. - Sapa

Fair and Free Trade! - Stop the rape of Africa!

Drugs worth R6m found in bus

Drugs worth R6-million were found in a bus on the N1 highway near Beaufort West on Tuesday, Western Cape police said.

Captain Bernadine Steyn said the bus was stopped by police who were searching cars on the highway around 2am.

Heroin weighing 7kg with a street value of R6-million was found in the bus and 950 Mandrax tablets with a street value of R47 500 were also found in the bus's luggage compartment, Steyn said.

The bus was going to Johannesburg to Cape Town.

Nobody was arrested in connection with the drugs and police were investigating.

- Sapa

We'll jail booze kids

TEACHERS and parents, gatvol with bunking pupils, have welcomed calls for the arrest of pupils found loitering during school hours.

Mpumalanga is leading the way with safety and security MEC Vusi Shongwe on Friday ordering the police to arrest schoolchildren found roaming the streets in school uniform during school hours.

"We'll jail booze kids"

Pappa wag vir julle jonge dronkgatte!

"We will also arrest pupils found in taverns or shebeens during school hours," Shongwe said.

The latest tough stance highlights a hardening attitude towards rampant ill discipline among pupils as the new school year unfolds.

The call has received support from teachers and parents alike. They said it was long overdue.

Last week Limpopo health and social development MEC Miriam Segabutla complained that hair styles and make-up had negatively contributed to the dismal performance of female matriculants.

She felt the time children spent titivating could best be used to improve their performance.

Segabutla also warned that pupils who did not adhere to dress codes "will be dealt with".



She was addressing hundreds of pupils at Mopje Secondary School in Bolobedu South, which had the worst provincial matric pass rate.

A day later executive mayor for the Mopani district municipality Joshua Matlou told pupils that designer clothes and shoes were not permitted at school.

Pupils grumbled.

"He is jealous because during years of schooling he did not have the luxury to dress as he pleased," said one pupil.

In Soweto last week pupils photographed drinking alcohol in the street on their way to school have since been suspended.

Ronny Makalla of Lefiso Village in Mpumalanga, whose child is in Grade 10, praised the MEC.

"We as parents expect our children to be in class seven hours a day. If they do illegal things we will now be made aware of it.

"I was so shocked when I saw in the Sowetan last week pupils sipping cider on their way to school late. What we saw clearly is the tip of an iceberg and something needs to be done."

A teacher, Dintlhana Moagi of Malatse High School in Mpumalanga, said: "This call is long overdue and why limit it to Mpumalanga? It should apply to other provinces as well."

Boas Ramollo, a teacher at Dikgabo Combined School in Lefiso village, said: "This call by the MEC will surely enhance the culture of teaching and learning at our schools and help maintain discipline among our pupils."

Angel Ally, a teacher at Thembeka Secondary in KaNyamazane, said: "This will certainly help our children focus on their studies because they won't be hanging around in townships during school hours."

Ally said pupils arrived early, but most classes were half empty after break as pupils go to nearby taverns.

"We as teachers are then blamed when they fail at the end of year."

- Sowetan

KNP ‘might ban booze’

The Kruger National Park is considering a ban on liquor for day visitors, Beeld newspaper reported on Saturday.

Sanparks chief executive David Mabunda said the international tourist attraction recently received 130 complaints of drunken driving, animal abuse, disturbing the peace and even skinny dipping in a space of just two weeks.

“There is a lack of respect for the park. People ignore rules and regulations and alcohol abuse is a big problem,” said Mabunda.

Although management still needed to make a final decision on the proposal to ban day visitors from taking alcohol into the park, the new rule may be implemented as soon as the Easter Weekend, the report said.

- Sapa

School of HIGHER learning

PUPILS at Boitumelong High School in Thembisa will attend classes in a yard infested with dagga plants.

Situated in Sedibeng Section, the school's backyard has dagga plants that cover the size of a soccer field.

According to the local councillor the plants have been growing at the school for a long time but they only realised that they were dagga plants in 2008.

When Sowetan visited the school on Sunday we found that some of the plants were about 2m tall. Young men and boys as young as 12 years old were picking the dagga.

We asked people passing by if they were aware that there was dagga at the school and the response was shocking. Everyone knew about the plants. Even a seven-year-old boy said: "I can show you what a dagga plant looks like. People smoke it every day in the yard."

One resident, who lives near the school, said: "In this section most people smoke dagga daily because they get it for free. It is a way of life for some of the youths around here. We are not happy about it but what can we do?"

Another resident said the previous principal allowed them to use the land to grow vegetables but they were later chased away.

"We used to grow vegetables in that space but we were chased away because the profit we made did not go into the school funds."

Sowetan has been writing articles about the dagga plantation for the past three years and there is still no permanent plan to get rid of the plants.

In 2008 and 2009 the Thembisa police uprooted and burnt plants worth more than R4million. Now it looks as if nothing had been done.

Councillor Vincent Hlatshwayo said uprooting the plants was "useless because the plants grew back during rainy seasons".

He said the space was supposed to be a soccer field.

The education department did not respond to questions sent to them on Monday.

- Sowetan

Drug Death winner

Medicinal Cannabis Growing SativaX GW Pharma BBC

Drunkest driver in SA arrested

The man was allegedly 32 times over the legal alcohol limit. His blood had an alcohol content of 1,6g/100ml. The legal limit is 005g/100ml. He was driving a Mercedes-Benz Vito and was arrested near Queenstown in Eastern Cape at about 11pm on Wednesday.

Five boys as well as a woman who were also in the vehicle with 15 sheep, allegedly stolen from nearby farms, were also arrested.

Department of Transport spokesperson Logan Maistry said: "About 4000 drunk drivers have been arrested and 40percent of these were female."

He said about four million vehicles and drivers were stopped and checked.

"More than 30percent of fines issued relate to drivers not being in possession of driving licences or failing to carry licences. More than 1,5 million fines were issued for various traffic offences.

"More than 20000 unroadworthy vehicles, including several buses and taxis, were discontinued from use. Since the 2010 World Cup, an average of 2000 motorists have been arrested every month for driving while under the influence of liquor," Maistry said.

lTransport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele conveyed his condolences to the families of 16 people killed in a road crash involving a minibus and midi-bus on the N2 near Mtubatuba in KwaZulu-Natal.

Ndebele called on more South Africans to enlist as Voluntary Traffic Observers to win the battle against road deaths.

- Sowetan

1,500 drunk drivers arrested

About 1 500 drunk drivers have been arrested country-wide since the beginning of December, the national transport department said on Thursday.

"From 1 to 21 December 1.1 million vehicles and drivers were checked, [and] 1,500 drunk drivers arrested with 40% of these being female," [Pappa wag nie vir julle dronkgat vrouens nie] department spokesperson Logan Maistry said in a statement.

Since October 1 more than 1.5 million fines had been issued for various traffic offences.

About a third of them related to drivers not carrying their driving licences.

More than 20,00 unroadworthy vehicles, including several buses and taxis, were taken off the road over the same period and more than 4,000 drunk drivers arrested.

Over 860 people had died in road accidents since the start of the festive season.

- SAPA

Pappa wag vir julle mansmense dronkgatte

‘Rape in jail’ ad too shocking for some

The Civil Society Prison Reform Initiative has slammed an advertising campaign seeking to deter drunken-driving by warning male drivers they face the prospect of being raped in prison if arrested.

“What is distressing is the near acceptance of sexual violence in prison and the fact that men are raped in prison. It is (now being) used to keep the public in fear of drinking and driving,” said Lukas Muntingh, project co-ordinator of the initiative.

He said if the ad had been targeted at women, it would have led to an “outcry”.

“But male rape for most people is an uncomfortable topic and one way of dealing with it is through humour,” said Muntingh, who added that the subtext of the ad was that “prisons were unsafe”.

“It is about exploiting sexual violence,” he said.

But the controversial ad, the brainchild of Brandhouse Beverages, has been endorsed by the Road Traffic Management Organisation and the National Transport Department, among others.

It is part of the company’s Drive Dry campaign... - IOL





Prison staff ‘biggest killers’

Prison officials are the biggest killers of prisoners, according to a Judicial Inspectorate of Correctional Services report by Inspecting Judge Deon van Zyl.

Judge Van Zyl said the incidence of inmate murder by prison officials was even more frequent than murders committed by other inmates and raised “serious concerns”.

“Officials appear to have been involved in acts of violence against inmates who are alleged to have assaulted an official or other inmates . These actions often constitute a form of revenge in response to an attack on an official,” he said, citing ineffective disciplinary measures at the disposal of correctional officials.

- IOL

80% of WC inmates awaiting trial

About three out of four inmates at critically overcrowded prisons in the Western Cape are awaiting trial.

This indicates that far too many people are being arrested on “insufficiently justifiable grounds”, says judicial inspector of correctional services Judge Deon van Zyl in his annual report .

Of 19 critically overcrowded prisons in South Africa, five are in the Western Cape.

Critically overcrowded prisons are classified as those with an occupancy of more than 200 percent...

- IOL

THC Reduces Aggressive Behavior In Schizophrenics: Study

​The administration of oral synthetic THC is associated with improved symptoms of psychosis in patients with refractory schizophrenia, according to the findings of four case reports published in the November issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Investigators at the Rockland Psychiatric Center in Orangeburg, New York, the Columbia University Medical Center, and the New York University School of Medicine assessed the efficacy of oral THC (Dronabinol) on eight patients with refractory psychosis, reports the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). The subjects in the trial had a history of symptomatic improvement when using cannabis and had been unresponsive to conventional medical treatments.

Researchers reported significant improvement in four of the eight patients after oral THC treatment. In particular, cannabinoid administration resulted in a significant reduction in subjects' aggressive tendencies, authors reported.

No patients in the study experienced any significant side effects from THC.

"It appears that a predisposed subset of patients with schizophrenia may actually improve with cannabinoid stimulation," investigators concluded.

The team had previously reported positive results with oral cannabinoid therapy in four of six patients with chronic refractory schizophrenia.

In March, investigators at Edmundston Regional Hospital in New Brunswick, Canada reported that male patients diagnosed with schizophrenia obtained subjective benefits from inhaling cannabis.

Survey data published in the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing in 2008 also reported that schizophrenic patients obtained subjective relief from cannabis, finding that subjects consumed marijuana to reduce anxiety, mitigate traumatic childhood memories, enhance cognition, and "improve their mental state."

- TOT

Portugal's Drug Experience: New Study Confirms Decriminalization Was a Success

From the perspective of drug warriors, the criminal laws against drug possession are all that protect Americans from a deluge of drugs, an orgy of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine use that would kill children, destroy productivity and basically leave America a smoking hulk of wasteland populated by brain-dead zombies.

For example, one opponent of marijuana decriminalization wrote in a 2009 forum in the New York Times that the policy would lead to "hundreds of billions of dollars in new medical-care costs, traffic and other accident costs, reduced worker productivity and lower educational achievements." (More on Time.com: Is Drug Use Really on the Rise?)

But new research on Portugal's drug policy suggests that this isn't necessarily so. Portugal decriminalized possession of all drugs in 2001. The outcome, after nearly a decade, according to a study published in the November issue of the British Journal of Criminology: less teen drug use, fewer HIV infections, fewer AIDS cases and more drugs seized by law enforcement. Adult drug use rates did slightly increase — but this increase was not greater than that seen in nearby countries that did not change their drug policies. The use of drugs by injection declined.

Of course, there's no way of knowing which, if any, of these changes were caused by the change in policy — without a control group, this kind of research cannot determine cause and and effect. But Portugal started with one of the lowest rates of drug use in Europe — far lower than American rates — and remains below the EU average. For example, 19% of 15-to-16-year-olds in Europe in general have tried marijuana at least once, compared with 13% of Portuguese people that age. The figure for U.S. high school sophomores is 32%. (Related Links: Why Drinking Like a Guy is Worse for Women)

"The most important direct effect was a reduction in the use of criminal justice resources targeted at vulnerable drug users," says Alex Stevens, professor of criminal justice at the U.K.'s University of Kent, who co-authored the study. "Before, a large number of people were being arrested and punished for drug use alone. They saved themselves a lot of money and stopped inflicting so much harm on people through the criminal justice system. There were other trends since drugs were decriminalized in 2001, but they are less easy to attribute directly to decriminalization."

Under Portugal's decriminalization policy, users are not arrested but referred by the police to a "dissuasion" commission. The commission is made up of three people, typically an attorney, a social worker and a medical professional. It determines whether the person is addicted — if so, they can be referred to treatment or given specific penalties like being banned from a particular neighborhood or losing a driver's license. Treatment is not forced, however, and those who are not addicted are often not sanctioned in any way. Only about 5% to 6% of users are brought before such commissions a second time in the same year. (More on Time.com: Addiction Files: Recovering From Drug Addiction, Without Abstinence)

Stevens says the positive changes in HIV/AIDS rates and a decline in opioid-related deaths are probably more linked with an expansion of treatment than with decriminalization alone. The number of users in treatment increased by 41% — going from 23,654 to 38,532 between 1998 and 2008. "Releasing funds from [enforcement] allows you to spend more on treatment," says Stevens.

The changes in teen drug use were complex: throughout Europe, teen drug use rose sharply during the period in which Portugal decriminalized and then fell — the same trend was seen in Portugal but the fall was steeper.

Mark Kleiman, director of the drug policy analysis program at UCLA and author of When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment, is skeptical that Portugal's policy holds any lessons for the U.S. other than that the "U.S. and UN look silly for getting hysterical," about Portugal's move. "The bottom line [is that] no clear disaster resulted from decriminalization." (More on Time.com: Addiction Files: Recovering From Drug Addiction, Without Abstinence)

Stevens concurs. "The main claim we make is that decriminalization did not lead to the kinds of disaster that were anticipated by opponents," he says.
In the debate over California's marijuana legalization initiative, little attention was paid to the fact that Governor Schwarzenegger signed a bill decriminalizing the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana — a relaxation of state drug law that would have been much more controversial had the state not faced the possibility that voters would support full legalization of sales as well as possession. Eleven other states have also decriminalized — though this does not always prevent the arrest of users for possession. (More on Time.com: Is Marijuana Addictive? It Depends How You Define Addiction)

With 1.5 million Americans being arrested each year for simple drug possession — 40% of them for marijuana — Portugal's experience raises the question of whether arresting users is a cost-effective use of taxpayer money. Billions of dollars are spent each year on enforcement of drug possession laws and that enforcement is notoriously racially biased — if ceasing to arrest users for possession has essentially no effect, is this really a good way to spend scarce money?


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