Support addicts to kick the habit

Alex residents are urged to be involved in their children’s lives to protect them from the lure of drugs.

Sanca’s Nompumelelo Tlou made the appeal through Alex News when she revealed that they attended to about 100 children and youths from 10-years-old seeking assistance on drug abuse weekly. “Without knowledge of the tell-tale symptoms of addiction, parents won’t know their 10-years-olds sniffed glue and benzine and moved on to dagga at 13 years resulting in many of them bunking and dropping out of school,” Tlou said.

Read: ‘Drugs made us do it’

She said afterwards, they advanced to harder drugs including nyaope which is easily available for R30 for a small pack, local dagga for R5 a twist and a gram of highly potent kat or rock sold for R50 a twist and sold by dealers who are known and part of the community. “The situation is worsened by parents ignoring addicted children’s cry for help making them turn to drug-pushers and other addicts as surrogate support systems and family.

Tlou complained of parents also not attending public workshops for exposure to types of drugs, risks from addiction and the importance of supporting addicted children. She warned that those who injected drugs risked amputations from rotten flesh while addiction in general, compromised their immunity, made them vulnerable to various ailments and risked death including from malnutrition by not eating well. “Others suffer irreparable brain damage and mental health ailments.”

Tlou urged them not to miss the sessions in order to be exposed to Sanca’s:

• Diversion programme for young first-time offenders experimenting with illegal substances to prevent them from entering the criminal justice system and having criminal records
• Behaviour modification programme for under-18-year-olds who transgressed school codes
• Treatment programme for youth who referred themselves or are brought by families and organisations for addiction treatment and referral to rehabilitation centres
• Life skills options to keep them busy and from relapsing.

Read: Bust for drugs and bribe

She added that awareness also helped parents and residents to intervene quicker to avoid addicts being beaten for stealing money to buy drugs and to apprehend and hand them to police without harming them. This in addition to awareness on a lethal drug called flakka said to have infiltrated the country from the United States of America and with serious hallucinating and self-harming effect. Also, blue-tooth said to be infiltrating the township from Pretoria which involves injecting blood from one who is already high under the presumption that it worked.

Details: South African National Cancer Association: 011 346 1500.