Colleagues and friends
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen
Welcome to this briefing on the launch of the Northern Cape anti-substance abuse campaign. This is part of the broader campaign that will be rolled out nationally to all provinces.
We are joined by the Central Drug Authority- the body responsible fro coordinating the work of national and provincial government departments and stakeholders in combating substance and drug abuse. The Deputy Chairperson, Dr David Bayever is present here and will respond to some of your questions.
It is an honour for the Northern Cape to be the first province to join and launch from here this important prevention campaign which is aimed at raising awareness about the dangers of substance abuse. I admire the province’s leadership and commitment in fighting this crime which threatens to destroy the lives of children and the youth of our country.
Coincidentally, the Northern Cape province is one of the provinces where the prevalence of substance abuse is unacceptably high. This is a sad reality that drug and alcohol addiction has indeed become one of the biggest challenges amid poverty, HIV and AIDS and underdevelopment.
The 52nd ANC National Conference of 2007 identified drugs and substance abuse as a priority as the scourge has the potential to seriously undermine our development and social cohesion efforts. It is usually in the most vulnerable and in the poorest communities where one finds higher levels of alcohol and drug abuse. This reduces our success rate in extricating the affected individuals and communities from poverty and destitution. That is why we locate the combating of substance abuse firmly within our government’s crime and the War on Poverty programmes.
The illicit drug trade is closely linked to other criminal activities such as child prostitution and human trafficking. Indeed substance abuse has become a threat to the future of our society and it necessitates our urgent attention.
The launch today of this community mobilisation and mass media campaign is an important step by our government in addressing the serious impacts of illicit drug use among in our society. As part of this campaign, we will unveil bill boards advertisements located at strategic points. The launch of this campaign provides an opportunity to renew our government’s commitment to taking action against illicit drugs and the harms they cause to individuals, families and communities. Through this campaign under the theme: “No place for drugs in my community”, we call on South Africans to action, to work both individually and collectively to eliminate illicit drug production, use and trafficking in our country.
Ladies and gentlemen, our government is committed to do all that is possible to implement the National Drug Master Plan (2006-2011), and I am pleased today to see the launch of this campaign. The Prevention of and Treatment of Substance Abuse Act places more emphasis on prevention as it proved to be a more cost effective level of intervention. It is crucial to use this campaign to shut down the road to destruction that our young people are embarking upon with the scourge of crime, drugs and alcohol abuse.
Our youth, as leaders of the future, must do everything to assist our government in building social cohesion and leading the Moral Regeneration campaign. This will see them lead our struggle for the birth of a new progressive and revolutionary youth that has respect for self and is patriotic towards this country. We want our youth to be conscious and progressive, and propel this country to prosperity. We want them to pursue healthy lifestyles, including safe sex to protect themselves from sexually transmitted infections and to lead drug-free lifestyle.
We want to encourage our young throughout the country to never allow themselves to be used as drug peddlers by the drug lords and criminal elements. Drugs affect the freedom and development of young people, our country’s most valuable asset. Together, we can help our young people make healthy choices. We will encourage them to stay alert, to stay engaged, and to take full advantage of every opportunity that the democratic South Africa has to offer them.
We also need to send out a clear and strong message to the drug lords that we cannot allow them to operate their illegal businesses in our communities. We must work together with law enforcement officers through the local drug action committees to really ensure that drugs have no place in our communities. At the community level, we must work with the Local Drug Action Committees and Community Policing Forums to help the South African Police Service (SAPS) deal with criminals benefiting from substance abuse in our society.
We will strengthen cooperation with law enforcement agencies to and community based organisations to curb the demand and supply of illegal drugs. Departments such as Education, Health, Sports and Recreation, Arts and Culture, provincial and local government, the National Youth Development Agency and others will play a critical role and must collaborate in the provision of prevention, early intervention, treatment and re-integration services and programmes. We need to take these services to our communities in all provinces so that they are within reach and accessible to all.
Through this campaign, we urge all our people to treat substance and drug abuse as a serious matter. Known drug dealers must be reported to the law enforcement authorities. Those who abuse substances must be helped to stop the habit and to restore their lives to normality. Most importantly, families must confront the problem of denial which perpetuates the scourge. Early intervention is very important.
The anti-substance abuse national campaign comprises of two key components - door-door and data gathering activities. This invaluable data will provide us with a road map by which we can develop future action plans. It will also allow us to identify the need for specific campaigns in specific communities. The door to door activities will be followed by provincial summits in each province and this will serve as a build up to the 2nd Biennial Substance Abuse Summit in December.
Ladies and gentlemen, we recognize that there is no “one-size fits all” approach to the drug problem and wish to ensure that people are encouraged to keep looking for the most appropriate solution for them. The problems in each province are unique and may require provincial-specific interventions as is reflected in the National Drug Master Plan. For this reason the campaign adopts a multi-sectoral approach and is also based on dialogue and partnerships. We will, therefore, throughout this campaign work with our communities, to listen and understand what their needs are. This should also serve as an opportunity to expand and strengthen our partnerships towards a drug-free society. As it is, the task of building a drug-free society cannot be achieved by government alone, it is a function of collaboration with our communities.
Alcohol use and abuse during pregnancy is another concern that we seek to address, particularly here in Rosedale and many other communities throughout the country. Prenatal alcohol exposure can cause a range of lifelong disabilities for children. It is estimated that 10-25% of children in institutions for the intellectually disabled have a primary diagnosis of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). This has many health, social, and economic costs, for the individual, their families, health and social service systems and communities.
According to the Foundation for Alcohol Related Research, Upington has the highest levels of prevalence of FAS in this province. As you all know, FAS is 100 percent preventable. The safest decision a woman can make is to completely avoid all kinds of alcohol including beer, wine, and hard liquor during her pregnancy. We must send out a clear and unambiguous message to all women: no amount of alcohol is safe during pregancy. Through this campaign, we are working to prevent this problem by creating public awareness and providing support and treatment to those already affected.
We will therefore work closely with the Department of Health to ensure screening and early diagnosis of children exposed to alcohol prenatally for referral and early intervention. Central to this intervention is the need to improve access to diagnosis for rural and isolated remote communities. Ladies and gentlemen, as I stated earlier substance abuse is a complex problem and requires a coordinated approach. Now more than ever, substance abuse presents problems of vast proportions. It is fundamentally a social problem, which cannot be solved by government alone.
Our government will continue to work with various levels of government, community groups, non-governmental organisations and international partners as we implement the National Drug Master Plan and work towards a safer, healthier and drug-free South Africa.
With those few words I formally launch the Northern Cape anti-substance abuse campaign.
I thank you.
