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Viewing cable 09CAPETOWN80, CAPE TOWN'S "TIK"ING TIME BOMB

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09CAPETOWN80 2009-03-30 12:13 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Consulate Cape Town
R 301213Z MAR 09
FM AMCONSUL CAPE TOWN
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 3033
INFO SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS CAPE TOWN 000080 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SF SOCI
SUBJECT: CAPE TOWN'S "TIK"ING TIME BOMB 
 
1. Summary: Cape Town is in the midst of a drug epidemic, 
with little relief in sight.  Tik, South Africa's name for 
crystal methamphetamine, has emerged since about 2005 as the 
drug of choice for Cape Town residents, particularly from the 
city's ethnic "colored" community.  The highly addictive drug 
has caused a sharp increase in criminal activity, overwhelmed 
the city's prevention and treatment initiatives, and thwarted 
municipal attempts to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic.  While 
the Cape Town municipal government is attempting to take a 
multisectoral approach to addressing the problem, resource 
constraints appear likely to hinder its ability to respond. 
National legislation to curb the importation of the root 
chemicals used to make tik is pending and could make a dent 
in usage, but neither experts, city officials, nor police see 
much chance of a decline in the near future.  Seeing as Cape 
Town's problems with methamphetamines mirror those of many US 
municipalities, US outreach and engagement with the city 
could bear fruit in both tackling the problem and enhancing 
our bilateral relationship.  End summary. 
 
-------------------- 
THE EXPLOSION OF TIK 
-------------------- 
 
2. The emergence of tik is a very recent phenomenon in Cape 
Town.  A 2005 Institute for Security Studies monograph 
written by renowned author Jonny Steinberg on drug use in the 
Western Cape focused its attentions on marijuana, crack 
cocaine, and mandrax -- a quaalude that has been popular in 
the area for years.  He mentioned tik only once, in passing. 
However, the past five years have seen an explosion in use of 
the amphetamine, one borne out in South African Police 
Service (SAPS) statistics on drug-related crimes.  In 
2002/2003, the Western Cape had 320 drug-related cases per 
100,000 people; by 2007/2008, this number had risen to 950 
cases per 100,000, a number that dwarfs the national average 
of 2281 per 100,000.  For Cape Town specifically, the 
2007/2008 figure was slightly lower, at 830 per 100,000, 
compared to 232 in 2002/2003. 
 
3. This explosion in drug crimes appears largely driven by 
the rise of tik.  According to Cape Town municipal figures, 
in 2003 only 2.3 percent of people seeking drug treatment in 
the city of Cape Town cited tik as their primary drug of 
choice.  By 2006, this had risen to 42 percent of those 
seeking treatment, including more than half of people under 
20.  Superintendent Basil Vellai of the SAPS station in the 
Cape Flats neighborhood of Delft -- a center of the tik 
epidemic -- said he has seen children as young as eight years 
old using the drug.  Vellai told Econoff that tik is by far 
the most common drug in the area, and he proved it by showing 
Econoff the station's drug safe, which was dominated by 
confiscated tik. 
 
4. Tik's rapid rise can be attributed in large part to its 
tremendously addictive nature.  A new user smoking it from a 
pipe (note: The name "tik" comes from the sound it makes 
after the pipe is heated -- tik, tik, tik.  End note.) will 
experience a rush of euphoria as the brain releases 
norepinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin.  Habitual use, 
however, leads to obsessive behavior, violent impulses, 
insomnia, and anxiety.  Twitchiness and tooth loss tend to be 
the tell-tale signs of tik addicts, while users also tend to 
have very high sex drives. 
 
5. The relatively low cost of tik is another contributing 
factor to its popularity.  Vellai said tik is typically sold 
in quarter-lengths of drinking straws, which generally cost 
about R30-50 ($3-5).  This is about equivalent to a "button" 
of mandrax, but the mandrax provides only one hit and cannot 
be shared, as a straw of tik can be.  Hence, a tik buyer gets 
Qbe shared, as a straw of tik can be.  Hence, a tik buyer gets 
more "bang for the buck" than a mandrax user. 
 
6. Tik users come from all walks of life.  Children use; so 
do their parents.  Females and males are almost equally 
likely to abuse the drug, according to a 2007 University of 
Cape Town study.  While most addicts are poor, local press 
reports in recent months have highlighted the growing number 
of middle- and upper-class addicts, notably suburban 
"supermoms" who use tik for the energy it provides them.  And 
while the drug is most frequently associated with Cape Town's 
colored community, there are black and white tik addicts as 
well.  Rudolf Wiltshire, head of the city's Specialized 
Services Office -- which is specifically tasked with creating 
a multi-sectoral approach to tackling the problem -- told 
Econoff that this breadth of use makes coming up with a plan 
quite difficult. 
 
--------------------------- 
CRIMINAL AND SOCIAL IMPACTS 
--------------------------- 
 
7. Although the numbers for drug arrests are easily 
measurable, the link between the rise in tik use and other 
crimes is less straightforward.  However, Vellai notes that 
the addicts' needs to fuel their habits contribute 
specifically to robberies.  Cape Town statistics suggest this 
link is real; reported business burglaries in Cape Town have 
risen from 244 per 100,000 in 2004/2005 to 289 in 2007/2008. 
Although statistics are less clear about the degree to which 
the rise of tik usage has had an impact on levels of violent 
crime, the local press in recent years has been full of 
sensationalistic reports of tik users committing brutal 
murders. 
 
8. Tik also is strongly linked to gang activity in the 
colored community.  According to the previously mentioned 
University of Cape Town study, most of the pseudoephidrine 
needed to make tik originates in China and is illicitly 
imported to South Africa via Chinese organized crime 
syndicates.  These syndicates sell their wares to local 
syndicate leaders, or barter them for rare abalone shellfish, 
for which there is a huge market in China and the trade of 
which is highly regulated in South Africa.  The gangs 
themselves then operate the distribution networks in the Cape 
Flats. 
 
9. Vellai said gang violence in Delft ebbs and flows.  Most 
gang leaders understand that the demand for tik means there 
is enough wealth to go around; generally, they demarcate 
territory and push their lieutenants to play by the rules. 
However, trouble starts when ambitious lieutenants break the 
rules to try to expand their reach to make more money or 
bolster their reputations.  Vellai noted that one small 
section of Delft had seen over 50 murders in 2008, most of 
which stemmed from drug-related violence. 
 
10. The social and economic impacts of tik are even more 
difficult to measure.  A city study last year said it was 
impossible to measure the economic impact of tik addiction on 
the city (in terms of such measurable impacts as lost 
productivity,  crime, and efforts to address the problem) but 
that it likely measured in the hundreds of millions of rands. 
 Less measurable are the impacts of tik on families, many of 
whom have been devastated or even broken up by tik-addicted 
members.  Wiltshire said his office last year had to set up a 
vagrancy unit just to deal with youths who had been displaced 
from their homes by the epidemic, either due to their use or 
the use of family members. 
 
11.  Tik usage also has many public health implications 
beyond the obvious need to treat addicts.  Sarah Fisher of 
the organization Substance Misuse: Advocacy, Resources, and 
Training (SMART), told Econoff that the lowered inhibitions 
and high sex drives of tik addicts -- as well as the fact 
many tik addicts work as prostitutes to feed their habits -- 
combine to frustrate government efforts to promote safe 
sexual practices and slow the spread of sexually-transmitted 
diseases, particularly HIV.  Another issue of note is the 
problem of "tik babies," which generally have low birth 
weights and high risks of brain hemorrhages.  Although 
statistics are unclear as to the cost of their care, it 
represents another financial burden for the local health care 
system. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
ADDRESSING THE PROBLEM AN UPHILL BATTLE 
--------------------------------------- 
 
12. The city of Cape Town is trying to address the tik 
epidemic through a multi-pronged approach, but finding 
sufficient resources looks to be a difficult task.  Wiltshire 
told Econoff that while the city's approach to tackling tik 
has law enforcement, education, treatment, and public 
outreach components, only the first one was well established. 
 While the city is working closely with SAPS to go after the 
key drug lords and limit supply, efforts to limit demand and 
educate the public are nascent.  Wiltshire said his office 
Qeducate the public are nascent.  Wiltshire said his office 
currently has less than ten employees; he thinks they need 20 
to make any real progress.  While he has been allocated the 
funds to hire new staff, he said finding qualified staff is 
difficult. 
 
13. Cape Town's drug strategy has also come under fire from 
civil society groups focused on drug-related issues.  Fisher 
told Econoff that the city's strategy is far too focused on 
law enforcement and does not adequately address education and 
treatment issues.  Furthermore, she noted that Cape Town (and 
the South African government as a whole) tends to treat drug 
abuse as a social development issue rather than a health 
issue, which tends to shortchange treatment. 
 
14. She was also critical of the city's inability to 
effectively regulate treatment centers.  Presently, there are 
10 registered centers in Cape Town but as many as 30 
unregistered ones, many of which are fly-by-night operations 
that offer shoddy care.  Fisher said the city needs to better 
regulate and expand access to these treatment centers to meet 
demand.  She also noted that magistrates needed training as 
to how to refer those convicted on drug charges to treatment 
centers. 
 
------------------------------- 
NATIONAL LEGISLATION COULD HELP 
------------------------------- 
 
15. Tik production, according to Vellai, tends to be a 
small-scale operation.  The police rarely uncover operations 
similar to the "meth labs" found in the United States.  But 
most tik does appear to be manufactured locally, so many in 
the city and law enforcement believe that better regulating 
the importation of pseudo-ephedrine and imposing harsher 
penalties on illegal importation is key to the problem.  The 
city is pushing Parliament to introduce legislation on 
pseudo-ephedrine; Post will follow up with parliamentary 
contacts after the April national election to check on the 
status of such a bill. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
COMMENT: TIK OPENS DOOR FOR COOPERATION 
--------------------------------------- 
 
16. Cape Town's tik problem closely mirrors the problems that 
many US municipalities are having with methamphetamine abuse, 
suggesting that opportunities for cooperation exist.  City 
and law enforcement officials understand the degree of the 
problem, but they have less of a grasp in how to solve it. 
Hence, they most likely would benefit from building linkages 
with US communities that have had significant problems with 
methamphetamine abuse -- and successes in tackling it. 
Offers to bring experts to South Africa, or South Africans to 
US communities, probably would be well-received by the city 
and help open up doors to further law enforcement cooperation. 
 
 
MAYBERRY