20th February 2013
ACDP Member of Parliament and Health spokesperson, Cheryllyn Dudley, said today that:
“The legalisation and regulation of the sale of dagga is a cowardly and defeatist approach to the drug trade taking its terrible toll in our country.”
Three out of five South African youth do not support the legalisation of dagga, consumer insights company, Pondering Panda said on Wednesday.
Spokeswoman Wendy Wakefield said a survey revealed that out of 5024 participants aged between 13 and 34, only 38 percent supported legalising the drug and that men were more likely than women to feel that the use of dagga should be legalised.
“The ACDP is concerned that the serious problems facing our country due to abuse of alcohol and illegal drugs will be obscured by ‘re-herrings’ like debates on legalising dagga in South Africa. The tragic impact on individuals, families and communities is experienced and witnessed continuously and will not stop until this government gets serious about crushing the drug trade from every angle. Making illegal drugs legal is a typical response but wishful thinking at best and a callous disregard for the devastation visiting our communities at the hands of these drugs.”
“To say that ‘legalisation and regulation of the sale of dagga could reduce the negative impact of the criminal drug trade in our country’ is in our opinion irresponsible.”
The survey was conducted during January 31 to February 5 and interviews were carried out through mobile phones.
Please note: we are not against debate on dagga - we are against anything that is a red-herring stopping real action to stop illicit drug trade in SA!
ReplyDeleteHi Cheryllyn.
ReplyDeleteNORML ZA firmly believes that the very nature of dagga being illegal is responsible for the ills that society suffers as a result.
Relegating dagga to the black market does a number of things:
1) It turns otherwise good, honest and hardworking South Africans into criminals.
2) It deprives South Africans of a safer alternative to alcohol, which is by far more detrimental to one's health and to the well being of society at large.
3) It also denies an extremely effective medicine with a very small side effect profile to the sick and disabled.
4) A legal and functionally regulated cannabis industry could be worth billions to our economy, be a major boost to tourism and create many thousands of much needed jobs.
5) The prohibition of dagga also gifts career criminals with a vast revenue stream due to artificially inflated prices, this income can then be used to finance more crime.
These are just a few of the better known reasons, but I could probably be sat here reeling off more all night.
Excellent response Alex. I'm not sure Cherylyn (or anyone in SA politics really) knows what a red-herring is. It just sounds like the right thing to say in an argument, doesn't it?
ReplyDeletePoliticians who support cannabis prohibition knowingly or unknowingly supports organized crime.
ReplyDeletefacebook.com/DaggaMovement
ReplyDelete