Why isn’t it more difficult to do drugs in South Africa?

Why are there so many crackheads in the streets?

(Crackhead: one who smokes crack.)

I thought it was just a Dezemba thing but a couple of days into the new year and there are still tweeked up weirdo’s playing hopscotch on the streets’ fading dotted lines. The more impressive ones do so while narrating their personal dissertation on the philosophical solutions to sobriety through metaphysics. 

Sure, we wanted the law to focus on the “real” problems and leave the drug users alone. If you’ve been outside of late, no matter where in the country, it seems to be getting out of hand. Worse, nobody seems to know what to do about it or, more likely, nobody wants to admit it’s a problem.

There is, however, a lack of philosophical consistency with allowing such visible drug use. There’s a reason why one isn’t allowed to drink in public and why it’s so cumbersome to get a liquor licence. It’s because we want to protect communities, and especially children, from drunkards and the opportunities to get drunk themselves. If you’re only focused on the booze then you need to get out of the 1600s and realise that there are so many other opportunities for intoxication and so many of them are abused in public.

Maybe it’s elitist to want to be able to walk through a park or head to the shops without encountering a crackhead. If you’re lucky, maybe they’re on something more calming, like tik, but it’s still a problem.

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When we stopped the stigmatisation of drugs, we didn’t ever really think of how to go about it responsibly. Society is more open to drugs so naturally, there’s an idea that one can go about doing their drugs in society.

There was never a conversation about keeping the pipes and needles out of the public spaces where kids are meant to play. There was never a conversation that if you’re going to get yourself into a state of self-conversation, do not be blocking the entrance to a police station where not even the police will know what to do with you. We didn’t even discuss what’s changed to compel us to reduce the stigma in the first place.

The only beneficiaries of the reduced stigma are the drug users themselves and probably suppliers too. The rest of society isn’t any better off now that druggies are more comfortable taking hits in public. Yet, raising that is apparently some sort of elitist call for restriction and favouritism towards my drug of choice; the booze, which has been around forever.

It doesn’t have to be though. Actually, with such intense clampdown on alcohol, the associated licencing requirements and topped up sin taxes, being a boozer is way more regulated in practice than being a crackhead.

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If one wants fewer crackheads, make it more difficult to be a crackhead. Why do they get to sit in the parks with their tonics but we boozers can’t? Why are no crack suppliers being arrested? But just let them find you selling beer with no licence…

If this country really is about equality, make doing crack more difficult, keep the crackheads off our public lawns and tax the crack.

If the reason booze is so restricted is to protect society we should place restrictions on all intoxicating substances.

You might argue that at least, to many extents, booze is legal. Crack? Not so much. Sure, you’d be right.

But then I’d have to refer you to the initial question; why are there so many crackheads on our streets?

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