Drug use on the increase in SA
2005-12-14 14:46
Johannesburg - The use of illegal stimulants such as crack cocaine, CAT and tik is on the increase in South Africa, the Medical Research Council (MRC) said on Wednesday.
It said of 7 655 patients seen at 63 alcohol/drug treatment centres in five provinces in the first six months of the year, almost one in three reported having used crack cocaine, cocaine hydrochloride, methamphetamine (tik) and methcathinone (cat).
These are some of the findings released by the council this week based on data coming out of the SA Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use (Sacendu).
"In terms of the stimulants referred to, abuse of cocaine was most common, followed by methamphetamine. Of the patients in the study, 17% had cocaine as a primary or secondary drug of abuse compared to 12% for methamphetamine," the report states.
Cape Town appeared to be the tic capital of South Africa with 98% of these patients in the Western Cape coming from the city.
The average age of tic patients in drug treatment centres in Cape Town in the first half of 2005 was 21, with almost half under the age of 20. Most of the tic patients came from the Cape Flats.
In Cape Town, Gauteng and the Eastern Cape, roughly one in five patients were using crack cocaine.
Cape Town and Gauteng
The report said that while the use of cocaine appeared to be stabilising in Cape Town and Gauteng, the Eastern Cape in particular had seen an increase in treatment demand related over the past 18 months.
Treatment demand related to CAT was the highest in Gauteng.
Treatment for dagga had increased this year in Cape Town, Gauteng and Durban, while Mandrax demand had declined at all sites.
MRC alcohol and drug abuse research unit director Prof Charles Parry said the increase in the use of drugs was not unexpected because people, faced with various pressures, turned to the stimulants to make them feel better and get more energy.
He said an alarming finding was that there had been an increasing demand for the treatment of people addicted to heroin in Cape Town (13%), Gauteng (11%) and Mpumalanga (19%).
Sacendu data also revealed a large increase in the percentage of patients under 20 years needing drug treatment over the past few years. This ranged from one in five patients in the Eastern Cape to one in three in Durban.
Parry said this was primarily due to the increasing use of drugs by young people rather than any dramatic increase in treatment availability for them.
"Treatment centres outside of Cape Town need to prepare for a possible increase in methamphetamine patients, and all alcohol/drug treatment centres should consider HIV testing of patients and to ensure that programmes address drug-related sexual risk behaviour as well as risks associated with intravenous drug use.
Detoxification services
"Other recommendations put forward by the MRC included the need for provincial health departments to ensure that all hospitals are prepared/equipped to provide alcohol/drug-related detoxification services," Parry said.
The report also recommended that research be undertaken to explore opportunities for intervening at antenatal and other clinics for people using methamphetamine.
Authorities should also investigate the appropriateness of using schools as after hour venues for outpatient treatment services for youngsters.
- SAPA