July 2000 MEDIA RELEASE The Present Drug Crisis in South Africa and the Need for High Level Action The Doctors For Life Conference, "The Present Drug Crisis in South Africa and the Need for High Level Action", promises to be a landmark event in the drug debate in South Africa. It will be held at the CSIR Conference Centre in Brummeria, Pretoria on 28 and 29 July 2000. "Six children die in Pretoria due to heroine addiction" recently appeared on the front pages of newspapers in Gauteng. According to Dr Albu van Eeden, CEO of Doctors for Life, such headings have become a regular topic on front pages in South Africa. In a statement yesterday Dr Van Eeden said, "This is quite disturbing. Something must be done about this before more lives are lost". A "New" South Africa with "Old" South African drug laws still in place, has opened the door for opportunistic drug dealers to exploit an unsuspecting, naive South African population. Black youth seems to be the target. Former President Nelson Mandela signed the "Drug Master Plan of South Africa" which recommends measures to close these gaps. Many of these recommendations are described as liberal while some harm reduction measures are simply labelled as "controversial". These include the decriminalisation of some drugs (like dagga), needle exchange programmes and shooting galleries. Within the next couple of months these could become law. The questionis whether this is the right way to go?Doctors For Life decided to step into the debate and arranged a conference where international experts from countries like Holland, the USA and Sweden can share their experiences about instituting harm and supply reduction measures to curb these devastating threat of drug abuse.International speakers include: Prof. Bertha Madras from Harvard University, Lt Col Robert Maginnis from the Family Research Council, Wim Jurg from European Cities against Drugs in Holland and Milton Creagh, a dynamic speaker who is extremely successful in anti-drug awareness campaigns in the USA. National speakers include Senior Superintendent George Mason from SANAB, Carol du Toit from SANCA, Prof. Solly Rateamane, Compiler of the Drug Master Plan and Mr Tobie Visser,Superintendent of the Staanvas Rehabilitation Centre in Pretoria. |
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