It Just Gets Jucier! Now Facebook Owner Mark Zuckerberg Dragged into JuicyFields Legal Wrangling as Swedish Court Rules He Can Be Sued Swedish lawyers are gunning for Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, saying his Meta Platform data centre in Sweden was the “scene of the crime” in the JuicyFields scam in which thousands of investors were fleeced of over 2,5 billion Euros in one of Europe’s biggest scams ever. Cannabiz Africa & Hemp Today 22/12/11, 10:00 Hemp Today reports that a lawsuit against Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg for alleged complicity in the Juicy Fields cannabis investment scam may proceed, a court in Sweden ruled on 5 December 2022. Swedish attorney Lars Olofsson was granted the right to move ahead with the case by a court in Luleå, Sweden, where Meta Platforms Inc.’s first data center outside of the United States was established in 2011. The lawsuit is the first of several planned by Olofsson against regulators, media and attorneys he alleges facilitated a scam against investors, 800 of whom he is representing in class action litigation. ‘Massive win’ Olofsson said the quick decision by the court, handed down within 36 hours of the filing, is a “massive win” that will “send a message to the others we have in our legal path that we are proceeding ahead, full steam, with other cases in the meantime.” The lawsuit arises out of a growing scandal in Europe over JuicyFields, a fintech company that offered “per plant” shares of cannabis crops. JuicyFields went public in April 2020, and imploded about six weeks after the German regulatory authority BaFin banned the selling of its shares to German investors this past June. Scene of the crime Meta servers in Luleå, located in the far north of Sweden just within the Arctic circle, “cover about a billion Facebook and Instagram users, which includes most of my clients,” Olofsson said. “The argument is that this is the place where the crime was committed. It is via these servers that my clients have been exposed to JuicyFields’ fraud.” In his application to the Swedish court, Olofsson wrote: “That META with its operative manager does not after several months of major publication that Juicy Fields has been an investment fraud cannot have escaped them, and on their own platforms their customers and users have extensive communication around the fraud and their personal situation – and despite this, it still allows Juicy Fields and individuals to do continued marketing for something that others on the platforms tell us is a fraud.  This is also a basis for the motion for the court to rule for failure. Evidence of all accounts on Facebook and Instagram belonging to Juicy Fields as of November 24th of The, 2022, is attached to the notification”. He said “By allowing a criminal activity to be able to carry out sales and marketing efforts to a large extent and that after it became publicly known that Juicy Fields was a large-scale investment fraud, the company continued to be able to expose itself and a large number of people continued marketing, META and its operative responsible have partly been accomplices to serious fraud and partly failed to report or prevent the crime both during the time Juicy Fields was active  and even after Juicy Fields shut down its internet platform. Facebook “allowed individuals to spread disinformation” “To this should be added that both Facebook and Instagram allowed individuals to spread disinformation that Juicy Fields was not an investment fraud and most likely it is the individuals behind the scam who continue to deceive and spread incorrect information in order to hide their criminal act. The evidence reports the regulations for Corporate Governance”. Olofsson said he has identified as many as 170 individuals, banks, companies and lawyers with connections to the massive cannabis fraud, which he claims bilked investors out of nearly $2.5 billion in the expanding international scandal based in Europe. Ponzi scheme Observers say JuicyFields is a classic Ponzi scheme in which operators pay out high dividends to early investors with funds from those who invest later. The suit against Zuckerberg, technically a private criminal prosecution, charges him, as Meta’s CEO, with being grossly negligent in failing to control who has used the company’s platforms. The suit also charges that his negligent behavior included the company violating its own terms of service – a crime under Sweden’s penal codes on fraud. Violation of such statutes carries a mandatory jail sentence of two to six years. Olofsson said subsequent lawsuits will be filed both in Sweden and internationally. INTERNATIONAL BREAKING NEWS PREVIOUS NEXT Cannabiz Africa Newsline The Business Of Cannabis Coming Fresh every Week. Stay ahead in the cannabis industry! Subscribe to CANNABIZ AFRICA NEWSLINE for weekly insights on the business of cannabis. Fresh updates every week! Enter Your Email Join Thanks for subscribing!

CANNABIS INDUSTRY BREAKING NEWS Cilo Cybin Holdings Hopes to Raise at Least R500 m Through JSE Listing Founder Gabriel Theron says cash raised through the IPO will be used to purchase and upgrade Cilo Cybin Pharmaceuticals’ Centurion cannabis facility and to invest in health and wellness solutions that boost longevity and the quality of life. Cannabiz Africa/Denene Erasmus Business Day 27 September 2022 at 12:00:00 Botswana Breakthrough: New President Embraces Cannabis in First SONA Read SA Court Censures Swaziland News for Calling eSwatini King a “Dangerous Dagga Dealer" Intent on Looting the Nation Read Finally, the Multi-Million Euro JuicyFields Cannabis Scam Starts Finding its Way to Court Read NEXT PREVIOUS Cannabiz Africa Newsline The Business Of Cannabis Coming Fresh every Week. Stay ahead in the cannabis industry! Subscribe to CANNABIZ AFRICA NEWSLINE for weekly insights on the business of cannabis. Fresh updates every week! Enter Your Email Join Thanks for subscribing!

SOUTH AFRICAN CANNABIS INDUSTRY BREAKING NEWS Brought to you by: Police Bust R2m Illegal Cannabis Grow Op in Linden, Johannesburg; One Man Arrested Home African News South African News International News All News Marketplace Business News More Brett Hilton-Barber 22/06/28, 14:00 A look at some of items police found inside Gregory Isaac’s garage; Cannabis Grow Op in Linden, Johannesburg- BUSTED PREVIOUS NEXT comments debug Comments Write a comment Write a comment Share Your Thoughts Be the first to write a comment. Cannabiz Africa Newsline The Business Of Cannabis Coming Fresh every Week. Stay ahead in the cannabis industry! Subscribe to CANNABIZ AFRICA NEWSLINE for weekly insights on the business of cannabis. Fresh updates every week! Enter Your Email Join Thanks for subscribing!

CANNABIS INDUSTRY BREAKING NEWS Small Turnout of Protesters Mark Global Cannabis Day with Mixed Messages Over Support of Cannabis Bill Over 100 cannabis activists took to the streets of Johannesburg on Saturday to participate in the Global Cannabis March, an annual rally held around the world on the first Saturday in May. Similar rallies were held in Durban and Cape Town. Ihsaan Haffejee for Ground Up 7 May 2024 at 06:00:00 This report from Ground Up published on 6 May2024. Protesters gathered at Pieter Roos Park in central Johannesburg, where police stood ready to accompany the marchers along the route. “The police will escort us as we smoke weed in the streets openly. We’ve come a long way,” said Nkosana Doncabe, a young protester. He was sharing a joint with his friend. Protesters were however divided on whether or not to support the new Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill, which is awaiting President Cyril Ramaphosa’s signature into law. “In South Africa we have witnessed a remarkable journey towards cannabis liberation,” said Candice Nel, one of the protest conveners. “However, the proposed cannabis bill threatens to undermine this progress.” She said the bill still criminalises certain cannabis activities and therefore perpetuates a harmful legacy of prohibition. She also said the bill “favours big corporations over small scale growers and entrepreneurs, legacy farmers and traditional healers”. “We reject this bill that prioritises profits over people’s health and well-being,” said Nel. But others at the march had come out in support of the bill. They chanted, “Cyril sign the bill!” Longtime cannabis activist Myrtle Clarke was at the protest. In a statement she recently released, she said: “Fields of Green for All supports the signing into law of the imperfect Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill because this means that cannabis will be taken out of the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act of 1992, with all sorts of happy knock-on consequences.” “This significant step is a gain for us all, and will create an enabling environment in which we can move forward with regulations, plus actions that further advance our human rights. We would rather bring court challenges to tweak the bits and pieces than to continue to fight for years for the big, broad stuff already being offered to us,” Clarke said. # Botswana Breakthrough: New President Embraces Cannabis in First SONA Read SA Court Censures Swaziland News for Calling eSwatini King a “Dangerous Dagga Dealer" Intent on Looting the Nation Read Finally, the Multi-Million Euro JuicyFields Cannabis Scam Starts Finding its Way to Court Read NEXT PREVIOUS Cannabiz Africa Newsline The Business Of Cannabis Coming Fresh every Week. Stay ahead in the cannabis industry! Subscribe to CANNABIZ AFRICA NEWSLINE for weekly insights on the business of cannabis. Fresh updates every week! Enter Your Email Join Thanks for subscribing!

CANNABIS INDUSTRY BREAKING NEWS SA Becomes Critical Node in Afghan Heroin Smuggling Rings Into Europe, Africa and Australia Heroin generates billions of rand in South Africa as local criminal syndicates become pivotal in the global market and domestic demand rises. Lee Rondganger, IOL News 2 October 2023 at 12:00:00 Botswana Breakthrough: New President Embraces Cannabis in First SONA Read SA Court Censures Swaziland News for Calling eSwatini King a “Dangerous Dagga Dealer" Intent on Looting the Nation Read Finally, the Multi-Million Euro JuicyFields Cannabis Scam Starts Finding its Way to Court Read NEXT PREVIOUS Cannabiz Africa Newsline The Business Of Cannabis Coming Fresh every Week. Stay ahead in the cannabis industry! Subscribe to CANNABIZ AFRICA NEWSLINE for weekly insights on the business of cannabis. Fresh updates every week! Enter Your Email Join Thanks for subscribing!

Spanish Police Open Fraud Investigation into JuicyFields The criminal investigation follows class action by an estimated 4 500 Spanish investors, some of whom invested up to 200 000 Euros each. Yahoo News/AFP 22/09/26, 13:00 Spain's top criminal court has opened a fraud investigation into the JuicyFields medicinal cannabis investment platform which allegedly swindled people around the world of millions of euros. The Spanish National Court opened its probe into JuicyFields on 15 September 2022 after a lawsuit filed by nearly 1,200 investors in July 2022, according to AFP. Established in 2020, JuicyFields offered investors – who it called "e-growers" – the chance to profit from the cultivation, harvesting and sale of legal cannabis plants, promising returns of up to 66 percent. But the Amsterdam-based company suddenly stopped operations in mid-July, froze cash withdrawals and vanished from the internet, investors allege. Losses of up to €200,000 for certain individuals The class action lawsuit accuses JuicyFields of operating like a Ponzi scheme, in which early investors are paid out of deposits made by later investors. It estimates that there are nearly 4,500 victims in Spain alone, who each lost an average of €6,500. Some individuals lost as much as €200,000. The minimum investment was €50, and the money could be deposited and withdrawn via bank transfer or cryptocurrencies. The company sought to impress investors by hiring social media influencers and displaying luxury cars at trade shows as a sign of its success. At its height, JuicyFields claimed to have 500,000 investors. On its website, the company says: "We welcome continued investigations by the authorities so that the truth can ultimately reach everyone’s ears and eyes. "In the meantime, we have put a plan into action that will allow us to generate income with our own money with a view on at least repaying all the existing investors who have money tied up in the bank accounts." It is not clear whether the cannabis plants listed in virtual greenhouses on the company's online platform ever really existed, according to journalists who have looked into its operations. French class-action suit This is believed to be the first class-action lawsuit against JuicyFields, which according to media investigations scammed investors around the world. A group on mobile messaging service Telegram in France for people who want to take legal action against JuicyFields has over 1,600 members. Several members say they have filed individual lawsuits against JuicyFields. A class-action lawsuit is also expected to be filed in France against the firm. Many investors are seeking to profit from the legal cannabis industry, where opportunities have arisen as more and more countries approve the plant for medical or recreational use. (Yahoo News with AFP) # INTERNATIONAL BREAKING NEWS PREVIOUS NEXT Cannabiz Africa Newsline The Business Of Cannabis Coming Fresh every Week. Stay ahead in the cannabis industry! Subscribe to CANNABIZ AFRICA NEWSLINE for weekly insights on the business of cannabis. Fresh updates every week! Enter Your Email Join Thanks for subscribing!

CANNABIS INDUSTRY BREAKING NEWS Drug Dealers Offer Special Discounts to Commemorate Queen Elizabeth’s Passing Drug sellers in the UK were keen to let their customers know they were saddened by the Queen’s death, but also that they were willing and able to wipe away the tears of grief and sell as much drugs as possible. Max Daly, Vice Worldwide News 10 September 2022 at 08:00:00 Botswana Breakthrough: New President Embraces Cannabis in First SONA Read SA Court Censures Swaziland News for Calling eSwatini King a “Dangerous Dagga Dealer" Intent on Looting the Nation Read Finally, the Multi-Million Euro JuicyFields Cannabis Scam Starts Finding its Way to Court Read NEXT PREVIOUS Cannabiz Africa Newsline The Business Of Cannabis Coming Fresh every Week. Stay ahead in the cannabis industry! Subscribe to CANNABIZ AFRICA NEWSLINE for weekly insights on the business of cannabis. Fresh updates every week! Enter Your Email Join Thanks for subscribing!

Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy Calls for Medical Cannabis Legalization to Deal With The Trauma of War One of South Africa’s poorest municipalities is pinning some of its development hopes on cannabis. Nyandeni in the Eastern Cape recently hosted a development summit where its mayor said the cannabis industry alone could create many jobs if it could be formalized. Cannabiz Africa/Luva Cataka, News 24 23/09/18, 10:00  News24 reports that Nyandeni Local Municipality mayor, Viwe Ndamase, told an investor summit held at Dan’s Country Lodge outside Mthatha on 7 and 8 September 2023 that the Eastern Cape area held potential for cannabis but that a regulatory framework needed to be put in place. “Once we get investors coming to our space there will be employment opportunities for our people. If you look at the cannabis industry alone, it has the potential to create several job opportunities if it can be formalised,” said Ndamase. The municipality sold itself as a stable municipality at both political and administrative levels during the summit, with Ndamase saying this was demonstrated by the unqualified audit outcomes the municipality achieved for six consecutive years. It further pitched itself as an investment destination of choice with investment opportunities in property development, tourism, small-scale manufacturing, oceans economy and agriculture, agro-processing, and forestry. Eastern Cape Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism MEC, Mlungisi Mvoko, who delivered a keynote speech at the summit, said he expected the investment summit’s outcomes to benefit the people of Nyandeni and the OR Tambo District Municipality. He further cautioned municipalities to improve on their turnaround time and approvals when investors come wanting to invest. “Policy uncertainty and turnaround time are the biggest stumbling blocks that stifle investment at municipal level, and municipalities need to address that as a matter of urgency,” Mvoko cautioned. Nyandeni is one of the poorest municipalities in the country with most of the population living in rural villages and over 75% classified as indigent. The main centre is Libode. Education is a big problem with 64% of schools either over-crowded or chronically over-croweded. HIV Aids is a serious health issue with the prevelance rate thought to be between 50% and 60% of the population. INTERNATIONAL BREAKING NEWS PREVIOUS NEXT Cannabiz Africa Newsline The Business Of Cannabis Coming Fresh every Week. Stay ahead in the cannabis industry! Subscribe to CANNABIZ AFRICA NEWSLINE for weekly insights on the business of cannabis. Fresh updates every week! Enter Your Email Join Thanks for subscribing!

CANNABIS INDUSTRY BREAKING NEWS Botswana Breakthrough: New President Embraces Cannabis in First SONA Botswana will diversify its diamond-dependent economy by launching into the medicinal cannabis market and exploiting its abundant sunshine, President Duma Boko said on Tuesday, 19 November 2024 in his first State of the Nation address (SONA). Agence France Press 20 November 2024 at 09:00:00 This report from AFP, published on 20 November 2024 Duma Boko swept to power in elections three weeks ago that ejected the party that had ruled for nearly six decades on concerns about a slump in the economy. Diamonds make up about 80 percent of the southern African country's foreign earnings. "The decline in diamond revenues by over 60 percent in recent years is a clear signal that we can no longer afford to depend on a single commodity," Boko said. His government aims to attract investors to high-potential sectors such as renewable energy, agriculture, tourism and technology. "Botswana receives more than 3,200 hours of sunlight annually and averages 21 megajoules per square metre which is among the highest in the world," Boko said. "The potential of solar energy is abundant." The arid country will also begin cultivating medicinal cannabis and industrial hemp to plug into the growing international market. "Our forecast in Botswana is to significantly increase our GDP with cannabis and hemp-related products," said Boko. "We will create jobs in this industry." A major gripe against the previous government under the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), which led the country to independence from Britain in 1966, was a 27-percent unemployment rate, rising to 38 percent for young people. Boko said other plans for job creation lay in boosting manufacturing and construction, as well as encouraging youth entrepreneurship and innovation. Botswana has engaged US billionaire Elon Musk's satellite internet provider Starlink to extend affordable internet connectivity to the entire country, Boko said. Starlink has plans to invest in infrastructure that will help transform Botswana into a digital hub for the entire region, he added. Home to around 2.7 million people, Botswana won praise for a smooth change of government when the BDP was quick to concede defeat after winning just four seats in parliament on 30 October 2024, compared to 36 for Boko's Umbrella for Democratic Change. # SA Court Censures Swaziland News for Calling eSwatini King a “Dangerous Dagga Dealer" Intent on Looting the Nation Read Finally, the Multi-Million Euro JuicyFields Cannabis Scam Starts Finding its Way to Court Read Intelligence Agency Offers ‘Compliance’ and ‘Law Enforcement Interaction’ with SAPs for ‘Grey Zone’ Cannabis Outlets Read NEXT PREVIOUS Cannabiz Africa Newsline The Business Of Cannabis Coming Fresh every Week. Stay ahead in the cannabis industry! Subscribe to CANNABIZ AFRICA NEWSLINE for weekly insights on the business of cannabis. Fresh updates every week! Enter Your Email Join Thanks for subscribing!

CANNABIS INDUSTRY BREAKING NEWS The Shadow Side of Rehab: Murder Charges Laid After Canadian Dies During Opioid Treatment at Durban ‘Clinic’ Westville dentist Anwar Mohamed Jeewa is facing murder charges after one of his patients succumbed at his clinic from opioid withdrawal. A subsequent police raid on the unregistered drug and alcohol treatment/detoxification facility, revealed not only ibogaine, but heroin, tik and cannabis on the premises. Anelisa Kubheka 23 April 2024 at 05:00:00 This report from IOL online , first published on 19 April 2024. A murder trial is underway in the Durban High Court where retired Hawks head Lieutenant-Colonel Anton Booysen gave evidence following the death of Milos Martinovic in 2017. Booysen was giving evidence as the investigating officer in the trial against dentist Anwar Mohamed Jeewa, who has been charged with the murder of Milos Martinovic. Martinovic was a Canadian and French citizen addicted to Oxycontin (an opiate) and Xanax (known as alprazolam). Alprazolam is a benzodiazepine medication commonly prescribed to treat anxiety and panic disorder. Jeewa had a permit to import Tabermanthe Iboga (dry plant material) from Goban to South Africa, which he did regularly. He used the dry plant material to manufacture preparations containing ibogaine, which the State alleges he had no licence to do. In November 2017, Martinovic travelled to South Africa and on arrival at the centre, Minds Alive, he was in possession of an unknown number of OxyContini tablets and several boxes of Xanax which the State alleges Jeewa allowed him to keep. It is alleged that Jeewa instructed Martinovic to continue taking the tablets he had allowed him to keep to avoid withdrawal symptoms. It is alleged that on the night of November 7, Martinovic was given three to four separate doses of ibogaine capsules by a nurse. Ibogaine is contraindicated for the treatment of addiction to benzodiazepines. The chances of fatality are increased when benzodiazepines or opiates are taken together with other substances. The State alleges that Jeewa was aware of this. “Several items were seized including scheduled medicines and illicit drugs, those being tik, heroin and cannabis,” said Booysen. He said the centre was raided on November 17, 2017, following an application for a search warrant of the premises that the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court had granted. “Also seized were CCTV cameras at various places, including the bedrooms of the patients as well as a purple plastic file which was the patient admissions file. The medication and drugs were forwarded to the forensic science lab in Pretoria and the digital evidence was forwarded to the forensic digital laboratory. “The patient file was kept by me under lock and key pending further investigation from there on,” Booysen told the court. He said that while at the centre he was concerned when he saw a doctor’s prescription pad with signed pages. He said he saw the need to apply for a search-and-seizure warrant for Jeewa’s home, as he was concerned that he might continue treating patients and sourcing more ibogaine. On December 22, 2017, police raided Jeewa’s home and on arrival asked him if he had anything he wanted to tell them. He admitted to having ibogaine at his home. Booysen said when they asked Jeewa if he had a permit for the ibogaine, he said he did but it was at his facility and they headed there. He told the court that while on the driveway of the facility, he noticed the house next door to be derelict with no direct entrance to it. But there was a pedestrian gate from the facility to the house. Booysen said he noticed a lot of activity at the house on the morning they raided the facility. He said after verbalising his curiosity about the house next door while in the car, Jeewa said while police did not have a warrant they were welcome to search the house. Booysen told the court that Jeewa had told police that the derelict house was where he manufactured his ibogaine. The trial continues. # Botswana Breakthrough: New President Embraces Cannabis in First SONA Read SA Court Censures Swaziland News for Calling eSwatini King a “Dangerous Dagga Dealer" Intent on Looting the Nation Read Finally, the Multi-Million Euro JuicyFields Cannabis Scam Starts Finding its Way to Court Read NEXT PREVIOUS Cannabiz Africa Newsline The Business Of Cannabis Coming Fresh every Week. Stay ahead in the cannabis industry! Subscribe to CANNABIZ AFRICA NEWSLINE for weekly insights on the business of cannabis. Fresh updates every week! Enter Your Email Join Thanks for subscribing!

Previous Next Retail Hemp Comes of Age as Hemporium Opens Flagship Store in Cape Town CANNABIS BUSINESS NEWS Botswana Breakthrough: New President Embraces Cannabis in First SONA Pain Relief is what Most Medical Cannabis Patients Are Looking For The Law Seems Certain About One Thing: Private Cannabis Clubs Are Neither Illegal Or Legal SA Court Censures Swaziland News for Calling eSwatini King a “Dangerous Dagga Dealer " Intent on Looting the Nation IN OTHER NEWS comments debug Comments Write a comment Write a comment Share Your Thoughts Be the first to write a comment. Cannabiz Africa Newsline The Business Of Cannabis Coming Fresh every Week. Stay ahead in the cannabis industry! Subscribe to CANNABIZ AFRICA NEWSLINE for weekly insights on the business of cannabis. Fresh updates every week! Enter Your Email Join Thanks for subscribing!

Previous Next “Rethink Prohibition and Stop Picking on Users”: New Era on the Horizon as Eastern and South African Commission on Drugs Launched to Re-Examine drug policies. Home African News South African News International News All News Marketplace Business News More Carolyn Doley, Daily Maverick 12 February 2023 at 11:00:00 Former South African President Kgalema Mothlante is part of a new initiative that is working out appropriate southern Africandrug policies in the wake of the failure of the 'War Against Drugs'. Part of the plan, which is based on a human rights approach to substance abuse, is to encourage law enforcement to clamp down on narco-traffickers and to provide better social support for drug users. This report by author and leading investigative journalist Carolyn Doley first appeared in the Daily Maverick on 12 February 2024. The Eastern and Southern Africa Commission on Drugs (ESADC), which involves ex-presidents including South Africa’s Kgalema Motlanthe, was launched in Cape Town on Saturday 11 February 2023. It will push for law enforcers to focus on narcotraffickers instead of criminalising users, who need better support. More heroin from Afghanistan and destined for Western markets is ending up in eastern and southern Africa. In South Africa, the trade of inexpensive heroin is linked to another crisis – gang violence in Cape Town. Daily Maverick has reported extensively on how major drug syndicates, with links to countries including Brazil, Australia and the US, are operating by way of South Africa. Beneath these global and local narcotrafficking problems are drug users, who can end up in prison for what some view as unreasonable lengths of time and who lack access to health-related interventions they need. Ex-presidents and experts This is where ESACD fits in. The ESCAD is aimed at law reform and better ways of dealing with drug users as there is a consensus that the “war on drugs” – cracking down on illegal drug use – has largely failed and that there are more humane ways to deal with related issues. Launched in Cape Town on Saturday 11 February 2023, the commission follows the model of the West Africa Commission on Drugs. According to its website, the West Africa commission was launched in 2014  “to mobilise political attention and practical responses to [drug trafficking-related] challenges”. The ESACD is also linked to the Global Commission on Drug Policy that was created in 2011. It comprises four commissioners. Three of them are former presidents: Kgalema Motlanthe of South Africa (who is also on the global commission),  Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique Cassam Uteem of Mauritius. Professor Quarraisha Abdool Karim of South Africa, one of the world’s leading Aids researchers and an infectious diseases epidemiologist. ‘Harmful and failed war on drugs’ Helen Clark, the global commission’s chair and a former prime minister of New Zealand, spoke at the ESACD’s launch. She said there was a global growing appreciation of the “very real harms associated with the prohibitionist approach of the war on drugs”. Clark added: “It has led to really massive human rights violations. It’s associated with harsh and utterly disproportionate treatment of people convicted of so-called drug offences ranging all the way to the death penalty. “Over-incarceration is very much associated with this prohibitionist drive.” She said this could be proven by looking at prison populations and checking how many inmates were detained on drug-offence charges. “The ‘war on drugs’ has failed…We urgently need new drug policies that prioritise people’s health and well-being”. Former President Kgalema Motlanthe, chair of the Eastern & Southern Africa Commission on Drugs (ESACD) at today’s launch in Cape Town. #ESACD #drugs pic.twitter.com/0lcylsM2Zh — Julian Rademeyer – @julianrademeyer@newsie.social (@julianrademeyer) February 10, 2023 “The global commission,” Clark said, “takes the view that the prohibitionist approach was always bound to fail. Throughout human history human beings have reached for some kind of substance for whatever reason.” Regulation and decriminalisation She explained that different ways to regulate drugs, as was the case with alcohol and tobacco, which could also be harmful, needed to be looked at. “There is a great deal of momentum around the world on drug law reform,” Clark said. This included decriminalisation. She referred to Uruguay and Canada. In 2013 Uruguay legalised recreational cannabis use and, five years later, Canada followed suit and legalised the drug for recreational use. Germany, Clark said, was considering doing the same. She acknowledged that, in trying to push for “forward-leaning reform” in Africa, “you’re trying to overturn decades of the so-called ‘war on drugs’ approach”. ‘Cops should focus on kingpins’ Motlanthe explained that the commission’s focus was “on harm reduction, decriminalisation and, of course, the criminal justice system, rather than penalising end users.” He added: “[Law enforcers] should really focus on the manufacturers, and the traffickers, the major players, because the focus on the end users [negatively affects] the prison population and creates all manner of violation of basic human rights.” Motlanthe hoped the commission would give key communities a voice “given the criminalisation and prohibition of drugs has resulted in the human rights of even children and young people being violated”. He said alternative and “more humane ways” needed to be found to deal with drug-related societal problems. Chissano agreed with Motlanthe’s statements and said a key focus was to research how to combat “bad” drugs in a good way. Aspects of the fight against drugs, he explained, could become harmful. Chissano hoped lessons could be learned from West Africa, which launched its drugs commission nearly a decade ago. Health effects and overdoses Abdool Karim said the drug problem was multifaceted. “It’s not just an issue for the eastern and southern African region, but globally what we’ve been seeing is an increase in drug consumption in very complex ways, with many ramifications at a community level,” she said. “It’s not something that can be solved by one entity or one ministry.” Abdool Karim detailed some ways in which drug use could affect a person’s health. “We already have a high burden of HIV. Sixty percent of the global burden of infection is in eastern and southern Africa,” she said. “It’s primarily being transmitted sexually but, with the increase in substance use, we’re seeing an increase also in injecting drug use which provides a new mode of transmission.” Abdool Karim said increased purification of some drugs, as well as the price of drugs, was leading to more deaths from overdoses. In terms of the “war on drugs”, she said “what we’ve learned very clearly, [there is] substantive evidence to show, that’s not the way to go”. She added: “What we need is a human rights approach … we need a more humane way of dealing with it that includes law reform.” Many narcotrafficking methods At the ESACD launch, the issue of mass drug consignments being smuggled in shipping containers was focused on. Shaun Shelly, an ex-deputy-secretary of the UN’s Vienna NGO Committee on Narcotic Drugs, said this was just one of the methods traffickers were using. “To exercise stringent border control on containers … you’d basically have to shut down all trade,” he said. “It’s already tremendously problematic to search that number of containers … and also, transnational organised criminal enterprises have many ways, besides containers. “We know that, down the east coast of Africa, there’ve been bales of drugs just dumped in the currents … they’ve got tracking devices on them and they get picked up off the coast.” Bernice Apondi, of VOCAL-Kenya, a human rights NGO dedicated to transforming drug control laws, said traffickers were exceptionally creative. Some were using motorbikes to transport drugs and others were employing school-going children as couriers. DM Sponsored by Cannabiz Africa Newsline The Business Of Cannabis Coming Fresh every Week. Stay ahead in the cannabis industry! Subscribe to CANNABIZ AFRICA NEWSLINE for weekly insights on the business of cannabis. Fresh updates every week! Enter Your Email Join Thanks for subscribing!