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Nandi Mayathula-Khoza, chair of the Central Drug Authority (CDA), is intent on fighting substance abuse.
“I grew up with my brother consuming alcohol and soon he was abusing it,” she said.
“I watched him deteriorate, not performing at school and soon I witnessed him abusing drugs and he declined mentally. Drug and alcohol abuse is a chronic illness.”
The CDA is an independent body and with the department of social development and other entities, marked International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, also known as World Drug Day, yesterday.
Mayathula-Khoza’s experience with a substance abuser in her family reminded her of the importance of the organisation whose primary aim was “to address substance abuse and its effects on families and communities”.
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The social development department said it was concerned about alcohol being the first choice of drug among young people. This was why they are calling for the finalisation of the prevention and treatment of substance use disorders policy for Cabinet approval.
“The policy seeks to empower the country to deal with the abuse of alcohol, especially by children, and replace effective policies with evidence-based policies,” it said.
Mayathula-Khoza said the communities and families with people dealing with substance abuse were the best for providing solutions, as they had first-hand experiences of this.
“With the prevention of and treatment for substance abuse policy, government is at the stage where it’s engaging communities,” she said.
Yesterday was also the second anniversary of the deaths of 21 young people who died at Enyobeni Tavern in the Eastern Cape.
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The Eastern Cape Liquor Board has since heightened its fight against alcohol abuse and developed a comprehensive alcohol harm reduction programme.
“The three key areas are underage drinking, fetal alcohol syndrome, responsible trading and road safety,” said Mgwebi Msiya, Eastern Cape Liquor Board spokesperson.
He said the board had a “[pupil] ambassador concept in schools where we identify four [pupils] per school to become our ambassadors and drive peer-to-peer education to ensure sustainability of our intervention”.
Along with an anti-pens down party campaign, when pupils go drinking at the end of the school term, the board facilitates school based activities “such as sport, drama and debate, with a view to promote sport and other activities and create recreational platforms for young people”.
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