The right of the child to safety, to quality education, and to a future filled with opportunity must remain foremost in the minds of each South African as the debate around the legalisation of recreational dagga rages.
Over the airwaves we hear concerned mothers, grandparents and educators passionately expressing their utter disgruntlement, while on television intellectuals debate, giving the public a glimpse into both sides of the issue.
On social media pro-cannabis campaigners tell of their happy highs and lament the supposed denying of their constitutional rights.
But an educator from Parkrand, Gauteng had this to say: “You can only make a decision if you have experienced . Because of my own experience, legalisation would be a downward spiral…they will be creating a very dangerous and chaotic society and that mistake will never be corrected.”
Last Friday, on day nine of the so-called “Trial of the Plant” in the high court in Pretoria, the focus turned, inter alia, to how children are affected by drug use and particularly by exposure to dagga.
An application has been made for the laws banning dagga be ruled unconstitutional.
Professor David Nutt of London’s Imperial College – who was flown in to testify for the applicants – is a firm believer that the relative harms of cannabis compared to alcohol and tobacco justifies legalisation as it provides a safer alternative.
Moreover, he says that increased cannabis use is directly linked to a decrease in alcohol consumption, a statement refuted by the latest reports from Colorado in the US which shows a steady increase of alcohol consumption and the creation of cannabis-laced beers increasing risks to the public.
The fact that tobacco and alcohol are legal does not minimise their harmful effects on society, and neither does their status justify legalising and exposing our children to a third harm.
A report by Smart Approaches to Marijuana reviewed by researchers from Johns Hopkins University and Harvard Medical School among others, emphatically states that legalisation has negatively impacted the children and youth in the poster-child states of Colorado and Washington. Both voted to legalise it in November 2012.
In fact, their hard data disproves most of what Nutt purports as fact.
Their 2016 report shows an increased use of dagga by minors, increased arrest rates, increased hospitalisation of children due to ingestion of cannabis edibles and exposure to harder drugs due to large organised drug cartels moving into these states and drug and human trafficking spiking.
That does not begin to touch on the highly detrimental effect that marijuana has on the brain of a young person, which continues to develop until the age of 21. It has been incontrovertibly proven that using pot before the brain is fully developed arrests the functioning of the prefrontal cortex which enables the higher skills of reason and logic.
There is also increasing evidence with profound symptoms – substantiated by psychiatrists – which point to marijuana and dagga oil causing genetic abnormalities associated with mental illness, including it triggering schizophrenia.
It is extremely concerning that a survey of 2534 schools from around South Africa shows that 37.4% of the schools rated drug addiction as a major challenge, with 234 schools specifically mentioning dagga.
To emphasise the reality of this we have again seen reported in our news the tragic hospitalisation of approximately 20 students from a high school in Orange Farm, Gauteng, with one pupil admitted to ICU after eating space cookies.
Teachers who deal with students known for dagga use state that learners are inattentive, unruly, and can become abusive in class, often bunk classes and receive notably low grades.
Though the so-called “dagga couple”, Myrtle Clarke and Jules Stobbs, are campaigning for responsible recreational use by adults, one cannot deny that this means greater exposure and access to the drug by children, creating unsafe environments.
Indeed the Smart Approaches to Marijuana researchers found that rather than quenching the black market there has been an increase of illegal drug-related activity in both Washington and Colorado since dagga was legalised.
Washington state now has more marijuana businesses than Starbucks or McDonalds and Colorado has more marijuana businesses than Starbucks or McDonalds outlets combined.
But rather than enhancing the economy the report points to a draining effect – including on tax revenue due to reputable businesses moving away; a spike in workplace absenteeism and disciplinary problems involving pot-users; and the fact that motor vehicle drivers who are high are increasingly and disproportionately responsible for a marked increase in traffic accidents in both Colorado and Washington – including fatalities.
Nelson Mandela stood for liberation, freedom, and for the advancement of the previously disadvantaged. Legalisation directly opposes these goals and those at greatest risk are the poor, those in townships, informal settlements, and our street children.
In fact, legalisation infringes on the rights of the child to a better future and safety, because, as one school principal says, “If dagga is legalised, the future of our learners will be destroyed. The country will be full of criminals made by this drug. More uneducated people will be the result.”
Cannabis is the most used illicit drug in the world, and greatly affects our youth between the ages of 12 to 17.
If we consider the states of Colorado and Washington, both prove that legalisation does not decrease interest of the child in the substance but rather experimentation with dagga increases.
This is particularly alarming in the context of South Africa as the popularity of Whoonga/Nyaope which is mainly a combination of dagga and cheap heroin increases.
The July 2017 report published by The Concerned Young People of South Africa (Cypsa) relates the following statement by a drug dealer who admits selling to school children: “This is to ensure my clients of a more potent dagga. Only when these children are caught in addiction, I tell them that the more potent dagga was in fact because of the Whoonga/Nyaope.”
The dagga couple recently posted a comic to social media showing a mother and child tending their home-grown dagga, with the daughter commenting to her mother how they would now have an ample supply to smoke for the winter.
This blasé attitude shows an utter disregard for how our youth and children might be affected.
During cross-examination Nutt said that a causal link between dagga use and crime did not exist.
However, reports from rehabilitation centres from across the country state that dagga has played an instrumental role in enabling individuals to participate in criminal activity.
Cypsa, a restoration centre for recovering addicts, has countless personal statements from adolescents and young adults testifying to the fact that most of their crimes ranging from petty theft, burglary and hijacking were committed while on a dagga high.
These South African findings are substantiated by 2016 reports from the Rocky Mountain HITDA reports which show that since legalisation, there has been a steady increase of dagga-related offences for both primary and high school children. Most alarming is that 10- to 14-year-olds testing positive for dagga increased from 28% to 39% in just three years.
In South Africa, the Department of Correctional Services seeks to educate youth on the negative outcomes linked to drug use, and the Anti-Substance Abuse Programme of Action continues to monitor the state of children. According to the Children’s Act, as explained in the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, a child who is “addicted to a dependence producing substance” has a right to treatment and is in need of care and protection, however providing adequate care to the very poor continues to be a challenge.
Therefore, before focusing on the rights of adults to enjoy natural products and the right to “experiment with their own bodies” one must consider the direct harms caused to others when such a right is exercised.
A principal from a school in Laudium, Gauteng states: “Dagga is prevalent in the community and our school is heavily exposed to dagga traders and smokers. Legalising dagga will give those addicts and drug traffickers an open opportunity to exploit innocent children who are at the mercy of the drug merchants in the community” and who are at the mercy of the courts, legislators and policymakers to uphold the rights of the children in South Africa.
Dr Elfrieda Fleischman is a scientist, researcher and the secretary of Cypsa
Dagga a danger to society, especially youth
Over the airwaves we hear concerned mothers, grandparents and educators passionately expressing their utter disgruntlement, while on television intellectuals debate, giving the public a glimpse into both sides of the issue.
On social media pro-cannabis campaigners tell of their happy highs and lament the supposed denying of their constitutional rights.
But an educator from Parkrand, Gauteng had this to say: “You can only make a decision if you have experienced . Because of my own experience, legalisation would be a downward spiral…they will be creating a very dangerous and chaotic society and that mistake will never be corrected.”
Last Friday, on day nine of the so-called “Trial of the Plant” in the high court in Pretoria, the focus turned, inter alia, to how children are affected by drug use and particularly by exposure to dagga.
An application has been made for the laws banning dagga be ruled unconstitutional.
Professor David Nutt of London’s Imperial College – who was flown in to testify for the applicants – is a firm believer that the relative harms of cannabis compared to alcohol and tobacco justifies legalisation as it provides a safer alternative.
Moreover, he says that increased cannabis use is directly linked to a decrease in alcohol consumption, a statement refuted by the latest reports from Colorado in the US which shows a steady increase of alcohol consumption and the creation of cannabis-laced beers increasing risks to the public.
The fact that tobacco and alcohol are legal does not minimise their harmful effects on society, and neither does their status justify legalising and exposing our children to a third harm.
A report by Smart Approaches to Marijuana reviewed by researchers from Johns Hopkins University and Harvard Medical School among others, emphatically states that legalisation has negatively impacted the children and youth in the poster-child states of Colorado and Washington. Both voted to legalise it in November 2012.
In fact, their hard data disproves most of what Nutt purports as fact.
Their 2016 report shows an increased use of dagga by minors, increased arrest rates, increased hospitalisation of children due to ingestion of cannabis edibles and exposure to harder drugs due to large organised drug cartels moving into these states and drug and human trafficking spiking.
That does not begin to touch on the highly detrimental effect that marijuana has on the brain of a young person, which continues to develop until the age of 21. It has been incontrovertibly proven that using pot before the brain is fully developed arrests the functioning of the prefrontal cortex which enables the higher skills of reason and logic.
There is also increasing evidence with profound symptoms – substantiated by psychiatrists – which point to marijuana and dagga oil causing genetic abnormalities associated with mental illness, including it triggering schizophrenia.
It is extremely concerning that a survey of 2534 schools from around South Africa shows that 37.4% of the schools rated drug addiction as a major challenge, with 234 schools specifically mentioning dagga.
To emphasise the reality of this we have again seen reported in our news the tragic hospitalisation of approximately 20 students from a high school in Orange Farm, Gauteng, with one pupil admitted to ICU after eating space cookies.
Teachers who deal with students known for dagga use state that learners are inattentive, unruly, and can become abusive in class, often bunk classes and receive notably low grades.
Though the so-called “dagga couple”, Myrtle Clarke and Jules Stobbs, are campaigning for responsible recreational use by adults, one cannot deny that this means greater exposure and access to the drug by children, creating unsafe environments.
Indeed the Smart Approaches to Marijuana researchers found that rather than quenching the black market there has been an increase of illegal drug-related activity in both Washington and Colorado since dagga was legalised.
Washington state now has more marijuana businesses than Starbucks or McDonalds and Colorado has more marijuana businesses than Starbucks or McDonalds outlets combined.
But rather than enhancing the economy the report points to a draining effect – including on tax revenue due to reputable businesses moving away; a spike in workplace absenteeism and disciplinary problems involving pot-users; and the fact that motor vehicle drivers who are high are increasingly and disproportionately responsible for a marked increase in traffic accidents in both Colorado and Washington – including fatalities.
Nelson Mandela stood for liberation, freedom, and for the advancement of the previously disadvantaged. Legalisation directly opposes these goals and those at greatest risk are the poor, those in townships, informal settlements, and our street children.
In fact, legalisation infringes on the rights of the child to a better future and safety, because, as one school principal says, “If dagga is legalised, the future of our learners will be destroyed. The country will be full of criminals made by this drug. More uneducated people will be the result.”
Cannabis is the most used illicit drug in the world, and greatly affects our youth between the ages of 12 to 17.
If we consider the states of Colorado and Washington, both prove that legalisation does not decrease interest of the child in the substance but rather experimentation with dagga increases.
This is particularly alarming in the context of South Africa as the popularity of Whoonga/Nyaope which is mainly a combination of dagga and cheap heroin increases.
The July 2017 report published by The Concerned Young People of South Africa (Cypsa) relates the following statement by a drug dealer who admits selling to school children: “This is to ensure my clients of a more potent dagga. Only when these children are caught in addiction, I tell them that the more potent dagga was in fact because of the Whoonga/Nyaope.”
The dagga couple recently posted a comic to social media showing a mother and child tending their home-grown dagga, with the daughter commenting to her mother how they would now have an ample supply to smoke for the winter.
This blasé attitude shows an utter disregard for how our youth and children might be affected.
During cross-examination Nutt said that a causal link between dagga use and crime did not exist.
However, reports from rehabilitation centres from across the country state that dagga has played an instrumental role in enabling individuals to participate in criminal activity.
Cypsa, a restoration centre for recovering addicts, has countless personal statements from adolescents and young adults testifying to the fact that most of their crimes ranging from petty theft, burglary and hijacking were committed while on a dagga high.
These South African findings are substantiated by 2016 reports from the Rocky Mountain HITDA reports which show that since legalisation, there has been a steady increase of dagga-related offences for both primary and high school children. Most alarming is that 10- to 14-year-olds testing positive for dagga increased from 28% to 39% in just three years.
In South Africa, the Department of Correctional Services seeks to educate youth on the negative outcomes linked to drug use, and the Anti-Substance Abuse Programme of Action continues to monitor the state of children. According to the Children’s Act, as explained in the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, a child who is “addicted to a dependence producing substance” has a right to treatment and is in need of care and protection, however providing adequate care to the very poor continues to be a challenge.
Therefore, before focusing on the rights of adults to enjoy natural products and the right to “experiment with their own bodies” one must consider the direct harms caused to others when such a right is exercised.
A principal from a school in Laudium, Gauteng states: “Dagga is prevalent in the community and our school is heavily exposed to dagga traders and smokers. Legalising dagga will give those addicts and drug traffickers an open opportunity to exploit innocent children who are at the mercy of the drug merchants in the community” and who are at the mercy of the courts, legislators and policymakers to uphold the rights of the children in South Africa.
Dr Elfrieda Fleischman is a scientist, researcher and the secretary of Cypsa
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos