Confessions of a drug mule
With drugs being ripe in towns across the nation, drug mules are used to carry any illegal drug from border to border.
Jaco Grahem (36) shares his story of the life of a drug mule.
Grahem started doing drugs such as cocaine, ecstasy and other drugs at the age of 18.
“It started out when I got involved with the wrong friends and started hanging out in nightclubs,” he says.Grahem adds that he used to be one of the top athletes at Springs Boys’ High School and had a promising future ahead.
“It carried on for a few years when I then became a drug dealer at a big club in Johannesburg.”
“That was just before I got pulled even more into the dark side and got introduced to the big guys, the money was good and I didn’t want to stop.”
Grahem says that people made him feel special and like he belonged there.
“They said all the right things, things anyone wants to hear and then they started giving me power and authority.”
He was introduced to a foreigner who promised him X amount of money if he was interested in trafficking drugs.
“I couldn’t say no, it seemed intriguing and the money was extremely good.”
“They got me everything I wanted, clothes, food and paid for the entire trip – each trip was about two to three weeks.”
Grahem says he did about nine trips, starting with trips to traffic marijuana and cocaine and moving onto meth and other hard drugs.
“They use all this stuff to make the drug called Cat.”
Living the high life and travelling from places like Europe to Scotland and Italy, Grahem was finally caught in Manchester where he was arrested with 20kg of marijuana.
He was convicted and spent three years in prison before he could return to South Africa.
Upon his return, Grahem’s mother died of cancer and he was left in the street with nowhere to go, so he turned again to using drugs.
“It took away the cold, the hunger and the emotional pain of everything.”
After a while Grahem decided he’d had enough and went to a rehabilitation facility where he spent two months.
“I was on the verge of suicide, I wanted to get help.”
Grahem pleads to young children using drugs to stop while they can.
“There is no getting out of this vicious circle once you’re pulled in deep, no matter how good it seems, it never turns out to be what they promised.”
“It’s not worth it,” he says.
