‘I need help with whoonga’
The man has been given a chance to kick his habit.
A MAN who admitted to the court that he smoked whoonga was given a chance to beat his addiction when he appeared in the Ramsgate magistrate’s court on Monday this week. “It’s going to kill you, they put poison in there,” said magistrate Elize Coetzer.
In response, the 37-year-old man from Gamalakhe, who was arrested for being in possession of a straw of whoonga, said what was really killing him was the fact that his friends had convinced him to use it.
He admitted to the court that he needed assistance and magistrate Coetzer postponed the case in order to allow the accused to get assistance from the Port Shepstone court for rehabilitation. The man was ordered to return to court on Friday, October 4 with a letter from the Port Shepstone court and R500 in cash to pay the fine.
Whoonga is a street drug that has seen widespread use in South Africa since 2010, mostly in the impoverished townships of Durban. Highly addictive, it’s notorious for having antiretroviral drugs as part of its composition..
