DEC nabs headman, family over cannabis

COMMENT - Legalize it.

DEC nabs headman, family over cannabis
By Henry Chibulu Mazabuka
Tue 19 Jan. 2010, 04:00 CAT

THE Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) in Mazabuka has arrested a village headman, his wife and daughter in connection with the cultivation of seven kilogrammes of cannabis.

The named village headman from chief Hanjalika’s area and his family are currently detained at Mazabuka police station.

DEC Mazabuka officer-in-charge, Patson Chiwala could neither confirm nor deny the arrest of the traditional leader to ZANIS in Mazabuka. But Magoye UPND member of parliament Ben Mweemba, who confirmed the arrest of the headman yesterday said people in his constituency were involved in the cultivation of cannabis because they wanted to raise funds to send their children to school.

He said high poverty levels were forcing people, especially elderly men and women, to grow illicit drugs because they offered quick and good money. Mweemba urged the government to devise a petition scheme for elderly people in order to deter them from engaging in illegal cultivation of drugs. He suggested that the government through the Ministry of Community Development should provide monthly food rations to elderly people to save them from starving.

Mweemba also requested DEC to conduct sensitisation campaigns to educate people on the dangers of cultivating and trafficking illicit drugs. Last September, DEC officers in a morning swoop seized 3,000 kilogrammes of cannabis and arrested ten farmers. The seizure was the highest ever reported in the Southern Province.