Parties back progressive drug laws
Focus policing on drug cartels and not their victims, who need the government’s help, say newcomers to the political space
Anumber of new entrants into South Africa’s political scene want the state to treat drug addiction as a public health issue rather than a criminal justice one, and appear to be ahead of the bigger, established parties when it comes to their approach to dealing with the country’s problem.
In their election manifestos, Actionsa, Rise Mzansi, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the Patriotic Alliance propose treating drug addiction as a public health issue and providing help for addicts. The four parties say that the state should provide addicts with rehabilitation and assistance in returning to normal life, while focusing police resources on the drug syndicates profiting from addicts.
According to World Health Organisation reports, South Africa’s drug consumption is twice that of the world norm, with around 15% of the population having addiction problems.
Addiction costs South Africa around R20 billion a year, but the country lacks rehabilitation facilities and the majority of users are unable to access help and end up in prison. South African Police Service (SAPS) statistics reveal that over the December festive season, nearly 17000 people were arrested for drug possession and a further 3800 for dealing in narcotics.
In their manifestos, the ANC and the Democratic Alliance (DA) acknowledge the country’s addiction problem, but both parties are stronger on law enforcement than they are on social and medical interventions.
The ANC will “intensify the war on crime and make our communities safe” by taking “action against drugs, organised crime, gender-based violence and femicide, infrastructure theft and vandalism, extortion and gangsterism.”
The governing party promises to “implement a national youth plan to tackle drug and substance abuse” and to embrace “prevention and education in schools and communities, counselling, treatment and support.”
The ANC also says the government will monitor underage drinking at taverns near schools and introduce “recreation programmes and peer-led interventions” along with using law enforcement to “clamp down on the flooding of communities with illegal drugs.”
In its manifesto, the DA places most of its emphasis on dealing with drug syndicates through a crackdown on organised crime; anticorruption initiatives and the decentralisation of policing.
The party also talks of creating “early detection programmes for substance abuse, rehabilitation programmes and appropriate intervention in adult and youth correctional institutions to develop exit strategies”.
The EFF’S manifesto says that while it understands crime to be a socio-economic issue, it will focus the state’s energies on fighting drug cartels and gangs profiting from the industry.
The party would change the law to focus on harm reduction on the part of addicts, including needle and syringe programmes, opioid substitution therapy, overdose prevention and community outreach programmes.
The state should provide access to legal assistance, social services, housing and adequate food for people who use drugs and seek help.
Rise Mzansi shares the EFF’S perspective, saying the state needs to invest in substance abuse education and rehabilitation facilities in or near affected communities.
“Substance abuse and dependency are a public health issue, not mere criminality,” it says.
Rise Mzansi plans to expand mental health services to all local clinics through a combination of community-based, peer-to-peer support groups and the placement of more social workers and psychologists in rural and township communities.
It will also train more auxiliary social workers and occupational healthcare workers, and appoint chaplains in clinics and hospitals to provide further counselling or support. The party will build specialised rehabilitation centres in all nine provinces, “paying particular attention to small towns and rural areas which have no facilities nearby at all.”
“We will divert substance abuse victims to counselling and rehabilitation centres, while prioritising the detection and prosecution of drug traffickers and distributors,” it says.
The party will make drug trafficking and distribution a priority crime by creating a specialised SAPS unit to operate from national to local level and using intelligence from communities to make it more difficult for cartels to operate.
Actionsa says it will “maintain the illegality of the narcotics trade” while providing medical support and improved access to rehabilitation for people addicted to narcotics.
“We see addiction as a healthcare issue and people who suffer from addiction as victims of the illicit narcotics trade. We will target the drug dealers and traffickers, not their victims,” Actionsa says in its manifesto.
The party says it would reduce the flow of narcotics into the country and crack down on drug syndicates by introducing harsher punishment for drug manufacturing, distribution and sale.
In its manifesto, the Patriotic Alliance says it will focus resources into improving rehabilitation facilities, which would be built in “all areas that are struggling overwhelmingly with the scourge of drugs”.
The party says interventions to divert young people away from drugs and crime, along with reforming the prison system to focus on the rehabilitation of prisoners — and improved policing — will assist in reducing the recruitment of young people into organised crime.