A Grassy Park mother and two men will appear in the Wynberg Magistrate's Court on Wednesday for selling the cough syrup drug “Lean” and dagga to school children.
The 49-year-old woman’s home was raided by cops on Monday afternoon following tip-offs from the community that the woman, along with her son, 23, and nephew, 22, were merting the cough syrup and other drugs to laaities at Grassy Park High School.
Vispol commander Captain Ashley Petersen says they first became aware of the problem about a year ago when empty medicine bottles were found in parks.
He says teens are coughing up R20 for a bottles of syrup, which contain codeine, and which they mix with other tablets to get high.
“Because the syrup has codeine in it, the laaities get high. They throw it into a cooldrink and sometimes they add other medication and it makes them high and they get a moerse boost,” says Petersen.
HIGH: Schoolkids mix BronCleer cough syrup with cooldrinks and other drugs
“We have received a lot of complaints from residents about that house because it is right next to the school and we suspect they sell it through the fence.”
During the raid, cops found 87 bottles of BronCleer syrup, several bankies of dagga, a scale and a toy gun.
“They will appear in court for drug dealing, but when it comes to the cough syrup, while it is not illegal to have it, they also face charges because they do not have a pharmaceutical licence to have that quantity in their possession,” he explains.
SEIZED: Dagga and toy gun found in raid on Grassy Park home
Philip Bam of the Grassy Park Community Police Forum (CPF) says they have written a letter to the prosecutor regarding Lean.
“We are having problems with children using this cough syrup and you see them in the parks and they are high,” Bam says.
“They tell us it clears their brains but we believe the children using it are also having hallucinations. It makes them very hyper and we know they also mix it with pain tablets and in some cases morphine.
“One pharmacist started to keep records to ensure that children were not abusing cough syrup.”
Western Cape Education Department spokesperson Jessica Shelver says: “We are not aware of the alleged incidents outside of school premises. The District will look into the matter.”