The overall number of drug-related arrests has drastically decreased throughout the province since the official decriminalisation of cannabis.
In a brief to Parliament’s police portfolio committee done by police management, topics such as the police performance plan and various other programme were discussed.
During this briefing it was exposed that drug-related arrests have significantly declined thanks to the Constitutional Court’s decision to make the private use and cultivation of weed legal.
The police’s Leon Rabie told EWN, “Given the fact that a great portion or a big portion of our drug-related crime was dagga-related, we suddenly saw a significant drop in reported figures because we could no longer arrest those persons.”
A large portion of drug related arrests were related to cannabis possession, but now police are able to better focus their efforts on apprehending dealers and users of serious drugs such as cocaine and mandrax.
“As the South African Police Service, we will continue with reports on dealing with drugs but with the establishment of a new baseline moving forward,” said Rabie.
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