PhD in Criminology and Forensic Studies - HR Management Assignment Help

Internal Code: 1HIFI

PhD in Criminology and Forensic Studies - HR Management

Task: The 2017/2018 Annual Report for the Department of Police (DoP) in South Africa reported that the South African Police Services (SAPS) detected and opened 260732 drug cases and confiscated a total of 93 050 kilograms of Whoonga during 2016. The SAPS Annual Report further reflected that the illicit use of drugs and drug proliferation was a huge societal problem. In terms of the South African Drug Trafficking Act of 1992, the mere possession of Whoonga, its usage and distribution is a criminal offense. The abuse of Whoonga drug was responsible for the breakdown of the individual user’s relationship with society and the law enforcement agencies. According to the World Drug Report (2014:01) globally, it was reported that in 2012, some 243 million people of the world population aged 15-64, used an illicit drug at least once during the preceding year. The SAPS Forensic Laboratory report of 2014 found that the Whoonga drug was a cocktail made up of the cheap heroin drug which was mixed together with marijuana, bicarbonate of soda, pool cleaner and rat poison in order to increase its mass. Similarly, the SAPS Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (the HAWKS) described the Whoonga as a street name for a modified cheap heroin drug sold for R20.00 per straw. The similar cheap heroin concoctions were called by different street names depending on the geographical location within the borders of the Republic of South Africa, for example, it was called “whoonga” in KwaZulu Natal Province, called “Nyaope” in the Gauteng Province and referred to as “Ungah” in the Western Cape. Preliminary investigations with a group of street drug users revealed that a single straw was never sufficient to satisfy the craving. As a result, an average of five straws per day at a cost of R20 per straw would need to be either injected or smoked to satisfy the drug dependency. These preliminary studies indicated that the whoonga drug habit was actually a “very expensive” habit because to sustain the habit, a drug user needed nothing less than R100 a day just for the whoonga alone. The Premier of KwaZulu Natal in his State of the Province address during May 2014 highlighted the importance of the on-going fight against drug abuse as a catalyst for other crimes. The paragraph 4 of the Amended Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act of 1992 specifically listed heroin and its different forms as a prohibited drug. At the macro level, the South African national government listed the fight against drug proliferation as one of its strategic objectives for the National Development Plan (NDP) Vision 2030.