A survey conducted by consumer insight fundies Pondering Panda say 63% of 4834 respondents – between the ages of 18 and 34 – thought that if drugs were legalised, gang violence would continue as before. In comparison, 26% said that making drugs legal would help stop gang wars, and 11% did not have an opinion. There were no significant differences of opinion amongst age, gender or race groups.
Respondents were also asked what they believed would be the best way to stop gang violence. 34% believed creating more jobs would be the best way to end it, 27% said we need more police on the streets, and 23% said longer prison sentences for gang members would be the best way to stop gangs fighting each other.
On the question of drugs, the majority of young people are against legalisation, with about two thirds (67%) saying they should not be made legal. In comparison, 10% felt all drugs should be legalised, and 21% said that just dagga should be made legal.
Shirley Wakefield, spokesperson for Pondering Panda said, “It is a commonly expressed-opinion that legalising drugs would significantly reduce gang violence. However, it’s evident that young people don’t necessarily believe that legalising drugs will help solve it. They believe that job creation, combined with traditional law enforcement strategies, will be the most effective way to reduce gang violence. Young people have offered the solutions they think will work best to help fight gang violence – it is now up to the government and police to devote the resources needed to make a real difference to this problem.”
All interviews were carried out on cellphones between the 9th and the 14th of August, across South Africa, excluding deep rural areas. Responses were weighted to be nationally representative in terms of age, gender and race.