Sanca Midrand urges victim families to use Ke Moja initiative
Sanca pleads with families and communities to play integral part in fighting the scourge of drug abuse by supporting victims who have returned from rehab to avoid relapse.
The South African National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (Sanca), is eager to fight the scourge of drug abuse through Ke Moja [I am fine with drugs] initiative by the department of Social Development.
Sanca Midrand is a non-profit organisation that seeks to address substance abuse through awareness campaigns and programmes with the communities.
Sanca Midrand Ke Moja coordinator Andisani Makhadi said the NPO was offering rehabilitation programmes to victims and providing them with aftercare programmes.
She said the concept of substance abuse was misunderstood, however, described the term as ‘a use of any mood-altering substance to the level of intoxication in a repetitive pattern.’
“There are [four] stages in relation to the use of substances which are, experimental, regular use, abuse and dependent. Now, it depends on an individual as to how fast they move between the stages. Within all of the above-mentioned stages, we find three classifications that dominate and those are, stimulants, depressants and hallucinations.”
She said people use substances in different forms and for different reasons.
However, to curb the rise of drug abuse, Sanca Midrand encourages victims’ family members to form part of the programme through support.
“[And] in many cases we are then able to take the victim to rehab easily. However, due to lack of family support, more often weeks after their discharge they relapse due to societal or family dynamics through the programme.
Ke Moja has been made available to young people as far as primary schools – this as to ensure that the whole community is aware of the dangers of substance abuse.
She said substance abuse was no longer an issue of South African Police Services or just Sanca, but it has now become a societal issue wherein parents also take part by educating themselves with the warning signs to look for.
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