Nathi quits drugs

Nathi Tshabalala used to live a life of drugs and crime until he decided to transform his ways.

Drugs are a worldwide problem and many young people in Standerton are involved with drugs because of its accessibility.

He used drugs for three years and decided to quit.

“When I began using nyaope, I thought it was cool.

“My friends were more than willing to give me a hit now and then.

“I thought I was in control and it was easy to stay without it for a day, but as time went by it became harder to stay clean and my body began to crave it,” he said.

His drug use began affecting his relationship with his parents.

He began lying to his mother in order to get money to support his habit.

“If they did not give me money, I would search the house and steal money to buy drugs.”

His family lost trust in him and his mother took him for rehabilitation a couple of times, until one day when he ran away.

“I was not ready to stop using and rehab the time seemed to be a waste of time,” he said.

According to him, it is hard to live without the drugs, once addicted.

If a day passed without him using, he would have had stomach cramps which worsened throughout the evening.

His habit forced him to get involved in crime.

The downward spiral lead to his arrest for breaking windows at his mom’s house.

He was arrested and when released from prison, continued using drugs.

“I had cravings and that made me short-tempered so I used to fight with my mom a lot.”

“Whenever I was feeling down I would just use the drugs to escape.

“It made me complacent, but as soon as I sobered up, my problems would all come back,” he said.

Nathi however, was determined to turn his life around and woke up one day and decided to turn over a new leaf.

“I wanted to be clean and for once it was my decision and I wanted to do it for myself and my child.

I realised it was time for me to grow up and be a father,” he said.

It was not easy because most of his friends were still using drugs and he had to cut all ties.

“It was hard, but I told myself I was going to do it because I wanted to live a healthy life and try to get a job and live a honest life.”

He went to Standerton Hospital, that has programmes to help drug users, for help.

According to him, they drained all the drugs out of his system.

He said he could not have done it without the support of his mother.

He now has to convince people that he changed because people still regard him a drug user.

His advice to other drug users is that it is not worth it.

“You will lose everything.

“You do not want people to see a junkie when they see you.”