POLICE in KwaZulu-Natal have been accused of distributing whoonga and failing to take action against known peddlers of the drug

Mariannhill community policing forum leader Hamilton Mkhize expressed disappointment at the police for failing to arrest identified dealers, saying that dealers had even confessed to smoking with the boys in blue.

Mkhize said drug abuse was rife in the Mariannhill area and that girls had also been caught smoking whoonga.

"The community does not know who to trust anymore because the police are shown the dealers and the drug hot spots, but fail to make arrests.

"This drug has brought anger and tension into the community.

"Each month we have a meeting where parents ask for our assistance since their children sell every household item, including braai packs, to get the drug," Mkhize said.

He said with the intensified awareness campaigns in the local media against whoonga, local addicts were turning to him for assistance.

"The number of those wanting to break free from the drug is growing but I do not know where to take them.

"I urge the government to find an alternative way of distributing ARVs since people face being robbed by addicts."

Brigadier Phindile Radebe urged the community to report police befriending drug dealers to the provincial offices, saying they should not take the law into their own hands.

Radebe said it was not the police's work to offer rehabilitation to addicts but there were organisations offering such assistance.

"We call on community leaders to report police who are friends with drug dealers and to give us their names."