THE chemical ingredients in an apparently new herion strain, believed to be deadly contaminated, are being analysed in a Johannesburg laboratory.
This after numerous users in Richards Bay had overdosed and shown signs of being poisoned after using the drug recently.
The Meerensee Community Police Forum (CPF) Domestic Abuse Task Team expects to receive results within two weeks.
Last week, one man was at death’s door when the CPF team found him and called ambulance services.
‘When I arrived, he was not breathing, had a slow pulse and his face had already turned blue from lack of oxygen,’ said Meditrax paramedic Richard Schouten.
‘Another three minutes and it would have been too late.
‘I put him on a normal saline drip and gave a drug called Narcan to reverse the effects of the herion after which the patient started breathing again.
‘He had signs of lung damage with brown frothy sputum that he was coughing up.
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‘We transported him to hospital for care to address the damage done to his body by the chemicals mixed in with the drug.’
CPF’s Corrie Pretorius said the task team has so far been able to help seven people and have had 14 call-outs regarding the drug since the group’s recent inception.
A task team is also being rolled out to Arbovlei CPF to assist families in Arboretum and Veldenvlei.
South African National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (SANCA) Zululand Director, Shireen Sahadev said dealers often bulk up drugs – whoonga being the most favoured – with cleaning detergents and rat poison to intensify the drug’s potency and make it cheaper to peddle.
‘Clearly, dealers have found something new with a bigger ‘kick’.
‘Hopefully people will be wary of it and since it is the start of this strain on the market, we will be able to curb the devastation caused by the drug.’
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