Former drug addict aims to help others

“I sold my soul for crack.”

Dowerglen resident, Mr Lee Kaplan, has lived on the streets of Hillbrow, addicted to heroin.

“You cannot tell me anything about the dark underbelly of Hillbrow’s drug world. One fuelled by money and sex,” he said.

At age 11, Mr Kaplan started using dagga regularly.

“From there, I went over to LSD, mandrax, crack cocaine and eventually heroin. Drugs stripped me of all emotion and I became an empty shell,” said Mr Kaplan.

Determined to change his life, Mr Kaplan was booked into a rehabilitation centre.

From there, he became the first person in South Africa to run both the Two Oceans and Comrades Marathons out of a rehab facility.

“Since then, I have run over 25 ultra-marathons. I also summitted Mount Kilimanjaro for a drug awareness campaign called Gutters to Peaks. I wanted to highlight what is achievable when you overcome addiction,” said Mr Kaplan.

Now he aims to be the difference needed in the lives of those suffering from addiction.

“I am sick and tired of media and television glamourising drug addiction. It is not a disease. Drug addiction is a choice and there is nothing special about it. It is hell and torment every day,” he said.

He believes that talking about the damage addiction does to a person and a family it not enough.

“Talk is cheap, we need people to stand up and do something,” said Mr Kaplan.

He added that he considers himself an expert in the field of addiction.

“I have been there. Addicts will not listen to someone who has studied in the field, it means nothing to them. They need to hear the hard-hitting truths from someone who has been through what they are going through,”said Mr Kaplan.

He has personally lost over 400 close friends through various addictions.

Mr Kaplan now hopes to run various intervention programmes to help addicts, as well as those close to them.

“Many people do not know what to do if someone close to them has an addiction. Often addiction can have devastating consequences for families and friendship circles,” he said.

Some of the areas Mr Kaplan will target include family, workplace and behavioural intervention.

“An addiction can harm the person’s working environment severely. For colleagues of anyone suffering from addiction, the process can be exhausting and it can affect the moral and profitability of any business,” he said.

Adolescent interventions include surveillance for parents who suspect their child may be involved in harmful activities.

“If suspicions can be confirmed we will move towards testing and counselling,” Mr Kaplan said.

Ultimately, Mr Kaplan aims to open a halfway house where addicts can be taught skills and be integrated back into South Africa’s working society.

“There is a growing need for a working structure for addicts. Everyone thinks it is simple, you send someone into rehabilitation and then they are fine. That is not how it works. Addicts need to be reintroduced into a working environment.

“They have to change their lifestyles and have a more structured, work-orientated programme to get them out of a using habit,” said Mr Kaplan.

He added that only two or three out of every 10 addicts recover from their addiction.

“The temptation will always be there, no one intends to be an addict and everyone has an addiction. It does not have to be drugs or alcohol, it can be phones, internet and even pornography,” said Mr Kaplan.

For more information or assistance, contact Mr Lee Kaplan on 081 831 0763.