Former President, Kgalema Motlanthe, has called for evidence based, holistic responses to deal with drug users or those in possession of small quantities - other than incarceration. Motlanthe was one of the main speakers at a meeting of the Eastern and Southern Africa Commission on Drugs in Cape Town, of which he is the chairperson. In a report the commission released in Nairobi last year, it expressed concern that this part of the continent is increasingly becoming a market for illicit drug trading. Whereas in the past, the region has been a route, it has now become a place of manufacturing and distribution. One of the biggest challenges of this is the incarceration of low-level drug related offenders - causing overcrowding of up to 400-percent in some facilities. Zalene Merrington reports...