Drug raids at Bay schools
Richards Bay SAPS and the K9 Dog Unit conducted surprise drug and weapon raids at four local high schools.
Richards Bay SAPS and the K9 Dog Unit conducted surprise drug and weapon raids at four local high schools on Thursday and confiscated cigarettes, weapons and ammunition.
The raids are part of the police crime prevention and drug awareness campaigns to educate pupils on the negative impact of dabbling in drugs and to deter drug activity.
Schools targeted were Richards Bay High School, Lizwe High School, Birdswood Secondary and Richards Bay Secondary.
Police spokesperson Captain Debbie Ferreira said the operation was successful in enforcing the war against drugs in schools and was welcomed by school principals and staff.
Richards Bay High School Principal Chris van der Westhuizen said the operation is a preventative, proactive and educational exercise for pupils.
How to identify drugs
Mandrax
• In tablet form
• Also known as methaqualone
• It is highly addictive
• Mostly smoked with dagga, called ‘wit pyp’
• Sought after effect: relief of tension, mental stress and anxiety
LSD
•Streetname for LSD is ‘acid’
•Common forms of LSD: on paper
•Mini tablets and capsules
•Gelatine sheets
•Known as one of the ‘club’ drugs, it is used in clubs and with XTC
•Most common effect: hallucinations
Cocaine
• Street names are coke or snow
• Can be sniffed or injected
• Used with heroin
• Forms: powder/rocks (crack)
• Users easily become physically dependent
Dagga
• Also known as cannabis sativa
• Streetnames: grass, joint, zol, skyf or boom
• Most people start experimenting with drugs by using dagga
• Is derived from a plant and smoked
• Often used with mandrax
Heroine
• Street names: Horse, “H”, Herries, Smack
• Its use is spreading rapidly among schoolchildren
• Heroine can be injected, sniffed or smoked
• It is highly addictive. Addiction develops within two to three weeks
• The death rate among heroin addicts is twenty times higher than the norm.
Ecstacy
• Street names include XTC, E and Adam
• Sought after effect: feelings of emotional closeness to others
• Increased physical and emotional energy
• Used at so-called ‘rave’ parties
• The use of XTC can have a side effect of depression in the short-term and over the long term, brain and liver damage can be caused.
