Youth

“Drug use among the country’s youth is rife and unfortunately continues to escalate. The average age of experimentation in South Africa is 12 – and decreasing. While the age of patients undergoing treatment in Gauteng ranged from 9 to 82, the proportion of patients aged 10 to 19 increased to 29%, according to the South African Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use (SACENDU), report - March 2017,” Shelley Andersen, accredited addictions counsellor at Akeso Clinic Umhlanga, points out.

Already in 2010 a study by Reddy et al reported that 12% of all South African learners had used at least one illegal drug such as heroin, mandrax and cocaine. This figure is one of the highest in the African region. Studies show that people who start drinking before the age of 15 are four times more likely to become alcoholics, she adds.

Trends

Current trends among the youth are the drop in ages to 12, the resurgence of mandrax (Methaqualone), and also the fact that the youth struggle to see the dangers and effects of marijuana (Nkowane et al., 2004) and alcohol, says Andersen.

“Youth issues largely prevalent include: bullying, peer pressure, stress, depression, anxiety, anger, self-harming, low self-worth and suicide attempts. Many learners report that they have been either offered, sold or given illicit drugs at schools.”

Double the world norm

South Africa’s drug problem, however, extends far beyond our youth, with substance abuse even affecting people in their eighties. South Africa is among the top 10 narcotics and alcohol abusers in the world – twice that of the world norm, according to Dr David Bayever of South Africa’s Central Drug Authority (CDA). According to him, at least 15% of South Africans have a drug problem and this number is expected to rise.

Bronwyn Meyers, chief specialist scientist in the alcohol and drug abuse unit of the South African Medical Research Council (MRC), states that 11% (5.7million people) of the South African population will suffer from an addiction disorder in their lifetime.

Statistics reported by the United Nations World Drug Report of 2014 indicates that 7.06% of South Africa’s population abuses narcotics of some kind, and one in every 14 people are regular users.

Most commonly abused drugs

Recent reports from the South African Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use (SACENDU) suggest that among our youth cannabis, alcohol and tobacco are the most commonly abused substances.

The SA National Youth Risk Behaviour Survey (YRBS) found that 15% of pupils admitted to using over-the-counter drugs to get high. The same study found that 11.5% of pupils had tried at least one drug, such as heroin, mandrax, sugars (a mix of residual cocaine and heroin) or tik.

Health

“Drug use can cause serious health problems and may also have serious mental health consequences,” cautions Andersen.

Moreover, drug use, including smoking, can lead to diseases that can be fatal, such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and lung disease, she adds.

“A person on drugs is also more likely to have accidents while driving, at work, at home, at parties. Drug use can make people angry and violent. Worse still, drug use can make people with depression feel worse—sometimes to the point that they become suicidal. Drug overdoses can kill people and this rate is also escalating worldwide,” Andersen stresses.

Raising awareness

Various organisations are raising awareness among our youth by going into schools and doing presentations and talks, however, there is a lack of services available within the schools. Akeso Clinic Umhlanga is very involved with the schools to aid in raising this awareness.

“If anyone should need us to come to their schools they are more than welcome to contact us for assistance. We also have a community social worker who can also visit various areas to offer assistance and assist in setting up programmes. We also run a free adolescent group every Thursday evening from 6-8pm,” Andersen advises.

“As young people spend most of their time at school, school-based programmes are essential. Harker, Myers and Parry (2008) caution against once-off training sessions at school by specialists as these may have perverse outcomes. They note that once-off lectures have proved to be ineffective and instead stimulate more interests on substances.

“Scare tactics, where inducing fear among substance abusers and immediate families by exaggerating the risks and relative dangers of illegal drugs, or misusing statistics to drive scare messages home, should also be avoided as they have rarely influenced behaviours in a positive way (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime for Southern Africa 2004). When adolescents discover that they have been misled, they subsequently reject any information on drugs from official channels,” Andersen cautions.

Treatment

She says the demand for evidence based, best practise treatment services has increased significantly.

This said, there are many effective treatment options available for treatment, she adds. “Akeso Psychiatric Clinic Group, for example, works off the Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) model which is proving to have good results as it incorporates a far more realistic, less rigid, more humanistic approach and is more skills based than the traditional Minnesota Model of treatment utilised in South Africa.”

Family therapy is vitally important, especially for adolescents. Involvement of a family member or significant other in an individual's treatment programme can strengthen and extend treatment benefits, stresses Andersen.

“Trying to locate appropriate treatment for a loved one, especially finding a program tailored to an individual's particular needs, can be a difficult process, but Akeso has a 24hour dedicated helpline to assist in this process,” she concludes.

School kids who use alcohol or drugs are three (3) times more involved with violent crimes. (CDA)
Children who have one alcoholic parent have a 60% chance of becoming one. This percentage rises to 80% if both parents are alcoholics. (Lig, 04.2008)
50% of Grade 11 learners admitted that they have used alcohol in the last year. (Lig, 4.2008)
31% of school learners drink socially. (CDA, 2008)
60% of Grade 8-11 learners in Cape schools that misuse alcohol had to repeat their grade. (CDA, 2008)
By the age of 18 more than 60% of teenagers has become drunk. 30% had used school time or work time to drink. (The Lancet medical journal, 2009)
In 2007 there was a clear increase in patients under 20 years, who came for treatment for dagga addiction. (MRC)
A 2007 report said that Gauteng’s youngest drug dealer was a 8 year old boy from Douglasdale. (Gauteng Drug awareness team)
35% of high schools kids are problem drinkers who drink at least 9 units’ spirits, 1 litre wine or 2 litres of beer. (Rapport, 11.05.2008)
In 2008 it was reported that 12 years before 2% of patients in rehab centres were under 20 years of age. In 2008 the number increased to 20%. Most were addicted to tik (meth), dagga and heroin. (MRC)
According to research done in May 2008, 20% of 14 year old boys and nearly half of 17 year old boys drank in the previous month. Girls' was a bit lower with 18% of 14 year olds and 35% of 17 year olds in the same period. (CDA)
122 out of every 1000 Grade 1 pupils in the Northern Cape town of De Aar have foetal alcohol syndrome – the highest incidence of the syndrome in one population anywhere in the world.

References

National Institute on Drug Abuse; National Institutes of Health; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Report of the international narcotics control board 2016
Study by Reddy et al in 2010
Myers and Parry (2008)
SACENDU – March 2017
Dr. David Bayever from the government drug control organization, known as the CDA

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