CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
by Tshibambe Lubowa, Congo (RDC), Déc. 1998
THEME = DRUGS
Large scale use of cannabis
threatens the well-being of Congo's young people
Cannabis is a drug whose use is condemned in many parts of the world. It's also found and used in Congo RDC. More and more young people in this country are today taking to drink and to cannabis, an Indian hemp, widely available in many parts of Kinshasa, capital of Congo RDC. The narrow covered lanes which separate dwellings in Kinshasa have become places where hemp smokers gather to enjoy their habit. School premises are also places frequented by hemp smokers. It doesn't cost much to purchase a small quantity of the substance in the form of a little ball in a paper wrapper.
But how do Kinshasa's young people get hold of the drug? What kind of people use Indian hemp, and what does the law have to say about it? Is the nation's well-being threatened because this drug is being used more and more frequently by young people? Let's take a look at the current situation.
Young people, mostly the unemployed, know they can get hold of cannabis in the districts of Matete, Kisenso, Ndjili, Kimbaseke and Masina (eastern side of the capital). Both girls and boys take cannabis, although boys are in the majority. There are also many cannabis users in the army.
Young people either smoke cannabis in its natural state on its own in a "joint", or mixed with tobacco in a normal cigarette. It is also taken as a drink in coffee or tea. Funeral wakes are occasions when people, knowingly or unknowingly, take the drug. On these occasions mourners complain that coffee mixed with hemp has been served to them in order to keep them awake. Cannabis can also be mixed with cassava leaves. (Cassava is a very common vegetable throughout Congo). More rarely it's taken as snuff. Some users say that hemp acts as a stimulus to help them cope with particular problems.
Cannabis dealers interviewed in Kinshasa say they receive their supplies either in Kinshasa itself, where it grows wild in some areas, mainly on the outskirts of the city, or they obtain it from traffickers who bring it in from the countryside, using three main routes. The first, via the Congo River, where it is carried on boats and often hidden in sacks of corn, groundnuts, beans or cassava. Sailors, it appears, collude with this traffic. The cannabis comes in this way from the Orientale, Equateur, Kasaï and Bandundu provinces.
The second route is by road, on the Kikwit-Kenge-Kinshasa highway. The cannabis is taken by lorry. Coming from Bandundu province to the capital, it's hidden in sacks of cassava, groundnuts and nfumbwa (a vegetable eaten by the people of Bas-Congo, Bandundu and Kinshasa) or stowed away in the bodywork.
The third route is from Matadi. Cannabis comes by lorry or train from the Bas-Congo and from Angola. Again, it's hidden in sacks of cassava or groundnuts, in loads of cement, sugar or wheat flour. Easily bribed immigration and security officials "facilitate" the product's trouble-free journey.
According to Dr. Mifundu Bilongo, a neuropsychiatrist from the Neuro-pathology Centre at the University of Kinshasa, the cannabis available in Kinshasa is extremely potent for two main reasons: Congo's tropical climate and the short time between production and consumption which provides users with cannabis of very high quality.
According to Dr. Bilongo, young people more than other age-groups suffer from cannabis-related problems. He states that 98% of young people admitted to hospital at the Centre are there because of cannabis-taking. Their average age is 17. Boys are those most concerned (98%). Strangely, these patients are mostly (86%) educated, so one would have hoped they should have known better. But their time in school has been marked by truancy, absenteeism and giving up their schooling at an early age.
Dr. Bilongo takes an active interest in the cases treated at the Centre. He maintains that cannabis-users in Kinshasa mostly come from broken homes. "They're children who were starved of affection", he says, "with fathers who were often polygamous, parents who were separated, divorced or at odds with each other".
It's against Congo's Legal Code to use cannabis, which is classified as a narcotic. However, the laws on this subject are brief, out-of-date and unsuitable for the current situation. The main legislation is the Decree of 22 February 1903, making the cultivation, sale, transport and possession of cannabis a criminal offence. The Legal Code imposes a penalty of imprisonment from one to fifteen years, as well as small fines. None of these penalties are ever applied. The Decree of 1 May 1903, also states that cannabis cannot be used for any industrial purpose.
We've already pointed out that many of the country's officials are involved in the trafficking of this drug. They're quite prepared to turn a blind eye when it comes to selling the drug (against the law!). Theft, smuggling, fraud and similar activities are all off- shoots of the drug-trade. Many criminal offenses are committed under the effects of cannabis. In 1994, five out of seven murders in the Mbanza-Lemba district around the University of Kinshasa, were committed by people under the effects of cannabis. Young people virtually out of their minds because of the drug, have burnt thieves alive, profaned corpses, made offensive and obscene suggestions to people during funeral ceremonies. The sexual stimulation which cannabis provokes, results in some young people turning to prostitution, rape or incest.
Dr. Bilongo also notes other effects from this drug-taking, such as hallucinations, illusions, etc. He quotes the example of a security guard at the Centre, who in 1994, tried to shoot his superior whom he believed was threatening him.
Congo RDC is a country at war. The effects of cannabis have been drastic on a population already traumatised by the effects of war, exemplified in the shameful deeds being perpetrated especially in the Bas-Congo region, where there's a concentration of Angolan soldiers. The civilian population are victims of theft and rape - many of these crimes committed by the military, who are undoubtedly taking cannabis.
END
CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
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