This article was
written by Bjorn Franzern, Drug Control Adviser at SADC Secretariat
The facts about the drug control situation in southern
Africa have until recently been fairly vague. Police, customs, social workers and medical
institutions have, however, noted alarming trends in the form of increased seizures of
illicit drugs, increased number of drug abusers etc.
However, the official statistics have been far from
conclusive regarding the actual scope of the production, trafficking and abuse of illicit
drugs.
According to global surveys done by the International
Narcotics Control Board (INCB) and the United Nations International Drug Control
Programme, the only obvious problem in southern Africa is the production of herbal
Cannabis (also known as dagga, marijuana or bangi). Knowledge about the situation has,
however, widened thanks to recent research by various organisations and the establishment
of the SADC Drug Control Database (SDCD).
Reports from the latter indicates that all nine
countries that have submitted data for 1997, rank alcohol as both the most abused drug as
well as the drug that causes the most social problems by all but two SADC countries.
Similarly, Cannabis has been ranked as the second most commonly abused drug and one that
causes the second most social damage.
The third drug on the ranking varies from country to
country. Some consider heroin to cause the most social problems while others rank cocaine,
methaqualone and other drugs as causing social problems in their respective countries.
Worrying is also that the prices for most illicit drugs
have fallen sharply. According to sources in Pretoria, South Africa, the retail price of
cocaine has almost collapsed in recent years.
The prices for ecstasy and heroin have shown similar
trends. This is seen by most experts as a sign of traffickers depressing prices to
establish a new market or that there may be a surplus of drugs in the region.
Police in South Africa estimate that no fewer than 70
percent of attendees at rave parties are using ecstasy, 90 percent of these users fall
into the 14-16 age group. Similar information is also coming from other big cities in the
region such as Harare.
The responses to increasing drug trafficking are,
however, many on both the national and regional level. |
Drugs
cause social damage
Several member states have or are in the process of
establishing national inter-ministerial or departmental bodies to effectively coordinate,
initiate, implement and monitor all national drug control-related activities.
Member states are also, for the same reasons that have
prompted them to establish coordinating bodies, elaborating comprehensive, multi-sectoral
national master plans for drug control that will ensure that the scourge of illicit drugs
does not continue to hamper the social and economic development of their nations.
The specific fight to combat the production and trafficking of illicit drugs, that is
reducing the supply of illicit drugs, has also continued with varying levels of success on
the national as well as regional level.
Police and customs authorities continue their difficult task of interdicting illicit
drugs both at and within the national borders. Successful cross-border operations within
the SARPCCO framework have been carried out in the region and more are planned.
Closely linked to these endeavors is the elaboration of
efficient and adequate legal frameworks, which is currently given a high priority by most
member states. SADC has, in cooperation with UNDCP made an assessment of the training
needs within the legal sector as well as how to facilitate the accession of all SADC
member states to the UN conventions.
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On the regional level, a comprehensive,
multi-sectoral, five years drug control programme has been developed by the SADC
Secretariat and was approved by technical experts from the member states at a SADC-EU
conference in Gaborone, Botswana in February 1998. SADC Council of Ministers has
subsequently approved it in principle for implementation, at its meeting in Mauritius, as
soon as the necessary two-thirds majority of the SADC Member States has ratified the
Protocol.
This was achieved on 20 March 1999
when the Protocol entered into force.
The SADC Regional Drug Control
Programme (SRDCP) is based on the recommendations made in the Protocol as well as on
extensive consultations with regional and international experts. It covers six main areas
of intervention:
Regional Capacity Building and
Coordination, including the establishment of and support to a SADC Drug Control
Committee, and the strengthening of the SADC Secretariat by recruitment of a Regional Drug
Control Adviser;
National Capacity Building and
Coordination, which will focus on the establishment of National Multi-Sectoral Drug
Control bodies, and the elaboration of National Master Plans for Drug Control;
Legal Development, which will,
inter alia, assist SADC Member States to develop and harmonize their national laws,
facilitate extractions and mutual assistance, and establish legal frameworks for dealing
with problems of money laundering;
Supply Reduction, which will
entail, among others, the establishment of formal and informal networks for fast and
secure exchange of information, enhancement of forensic laboratory capacities; and
Demand Reduction whose main
focus will be on primary and secondary prevention, that is general and targeted
prevention, interventions and support to treatment and rehabilitation activities; and
Illicit Drugs and HIV/AIDS
which is aimed at assessing and determine relationships between Illicit Drugs and
HIV/AIDS. Five studies are planned to be undertaken under this component of the Programme.
The process of developing both the
SADC Drug Control Protocol and SRDCP has been financed by the European Commission (EC). A
financing agreement worth US$2.2 million has already been signed and a second agreement
for approximately the same amount is currently being considered by the EC for the
implementation of the SRDCP.
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