People like the so-called "Dagga couple" thinks so! They were arrested in August 2010 for the possession of an illegal substance of abuse (105 g of Dagga) and used the arrest and media attention as a springboard to take the matter to the highest court in South Africa, The Constitutional Court. Their question, as they put it on their website: How come this benign plant has lead to the persecution of so many people, in so many countries, for so long? (Sounds a bit like a conspiracy theory, to say the least!)

While this is happening in South Africa, the Dutch law-makers are closing down many of their Dagga-selling Coffeeshops! We would like to show the other side of the coin using medical science and research, and as TNT does it best - through our personal experiences! So, watch this space for more articles, research, videos, testimonies! [Visit our page on DAGGA]

Did you know? Of TNT members who used hard drugs in the past, 100% considered Dagga to be a vital gateway.

Ex-Dagga smokers tell it as it is...

Richard Cebekhulu: "I started smoking Dagga at a young age in rural KZN. I smoked a lot of it and it even started affecting me physically. Even though I was still young I started looking like an old man. My whole appearance changed and I lost a lot of weight. Those from my area gave me the nickname 'Old man'."

Joshua Pillai: "I smoked my first dagga pipe at the age of 16 and soon became addicted. Things didn't feel right until I had smoked the first pipe of the morning. Soon I was stealing money and selling my clothes to get dagga. I didn't care what I looked (or smelt) like. My family was severely traumatised by my addiction. A few months after starting with dagga I became extremely paranoid, thinking that people were relentlessly spying on me with cameras, listening devices, and following me (called paranoia). It began one night after I had smoked weed, but the paranoia remained even when I woke up the next morning. For about a year after that I didn't have a moment of peace, and the paranoia became more intense when I smoked dagga. Finally, I committed a violent crime, intending to get caught. I was convinced that "the operation" to monitor me was so big, it had to be financed by the government and that they would surely be forced into the open to lay hold of me and lock me up in an asylum."

Teenagers using social networking sites like Facebook are risking themselves to end up being addicted to drink and drugs, researchers have found.

Scientists at the National Centre on Addiction and Substance Abuse (Casa) at Columbia University, surveyed over 1,000 children aged between 12 and 17 via an online poll and another 1,000 by telephone, Daily Mail reported. It was observed teenagers spending any time on social networks daily were five times as likely to smoke than those who didn't visit such sites. They were also three times more likely to drink alcohol and had double the chance of smoking cannabis.

The nationally-representative survey indicated that peer pressure was playing a major role, with 40 percent of the teenagers seeing pictures of friends getting drunk on sites like Facebook and MySpace. Half of the youngsters saying that they watched pictures of people being drunk, passed out, or using drugs first saw such images when they were just 13 or even younger.

Joseph Califano, Jr who is CASA Columbia's Founder and Chairman and former US Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare said: "The relationship of social networking site images of kids drunk, passed out, or using drugs and of suggestive teen programming to increased teen risk of substance abuse offers grotesque confirmation of the adage that a picture is worth a thousand words.

"The time has come for those who operate and profit from social networking sites like Facebook to deploy their technological expertise to curb such images and to deny use of their sites to children and teens who post pictures of themselves and their friends drunk, passed out or using drugs."

In a joint operation held by Durban Central Crime Prevention and the Crime Intelligence Unit police seized 246 boxes containing Kuber (tobacco) at Prince Alfred street (Durban). Earlier this year, information was received about illegal tobacco at a warehouse in the city centre. They proceeded to the identified premises and searched the warehouse at Prince Alfred street. Boxes containing Kuber to the street value of over two million rands were recovered and seized. The tobacco seized does not comply with South African standards in terms of packaging and warnings and is therefore it is illegal. At this stage no arrests were made and police are investigating the source of this consignment.

More about Kuber...

Kuber is a highly addictive, intoxicating drug being openly sold under the brand name ‘Kuber'. It is disguised as a mouth freshener and packed in sachets similar to tea leaves pouches. Kuber is a chewable tobacco, rich in nicotine, which is labelled as a breath freshener and sold in shops in plastic sachets for R2.50, a small price to pay for a dangerous drug being widely consumed by school kids and taxi drivers among others. It is undetected by teachers and parents because it has no smell.

Harm reduction is promoted as an attempt to minimise the harm done to drug users/dependents and society, through the introduction of measures to control the environment in which illicit drugs are obtained and used. In practice however, harm reduction usually involves one or more of the following:
• Methadone maintenance programs - the long term provision of Methadone, Suboxone and Subutex to addicts. All of them have addictive properties and should therefore only be given in a transitional phase of recovery.
• Needle exchange programs (the provision of clean needles and syringes by the state to intravenous drug users).
• Providing free drugs and paraphernalia to addicts.
• Legalising and decriminalising the use of dagga.
• Providing shooting galleries and needle parks.
• Ultimately legalizing the use of all drugs, such as in Portugal.

VISIT FOR MORE INFO: www.noharm.co.za

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