A shift in thinking is required if we are to win the
war against drug abuse. That is according to the Gauteng Department of Social
Development Substance Abuse Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation Director,
Ms Tebello Mkhonto.
 
She was presenting a draft Gauteng City Region Anti-Substance
Abuse Strategy at the department’s three-day Social Welfare, Community
Development, Regions and Institutions, strategic meeting held at Turffontein
Racecourse last Friday.
 
Mkhonto said the substance abuse pandemic has taken over
the youth from the age of 15 – 35 years and this is aggravated by the lack of
rehabilitation centres in Gauteng.
 
“We require a new strategy about drugs control paradigm.
The South African Police Services (SAPS), Department of Justice and
Correctional Service and the Gauteng Office of the Premier must develop a new strategy
that will open a space for discussion about a change in the drug control
paradigm and should focus on harm reduction when dealing with drug users” she
added.
 
Mkhonto said the availability and prevalence of drug use
in communities is escalating at an alarming rate and there is an increase in
range of drugs available and this was made also worse by the normalization of
drug use.
 
To curb this, the SAPS and Department of Community Safety
should ensure that police at both Provincial and National level establish a
specialised drug supply policing and investigation unit. South Africa is a developing
economy and vulnerable to the problem of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs
abuse”.
 
She warned though, that the experimentation of drugs by
young people from all backgrounds span the teenagers and extend into adulthood.
 
According to Mkhonto, “Nyaope” or “woonga” which is a
mixture of heroin and cannabis together with methamphetamine (tik) use has
gained popularity among adolescents, with far-reaching effects on users and
communities. The South African Youth Risk Behaviour Survey of 2008 surveyed
over 10,000 random South African learners and found that “almost one in three
learners (29.5%) reported to have smoked cigarettes in their lifetime”.