Drug Addiction in South Africa

Drug addiction is one of the biggest problems we face in South Africa today. It is rampant amongst our teenagers and ever smaller children. Peer pressure is a reality and the cause of many teens becoming addicted to substances as they want to fit in with their friends and because they have a fear of being an outsider or ridiculed. Sometimes teens and even adults become bored with their lives and they start experimenting with drugs. Even just trying it once can cause a person to become addicted for life.

Drugs are freely available in South Africa. People have this notion of thinking that the Nigerian community operate exclusively in secluded areas . While it is true that they are a big part of it, it is a myth that they are the only ones doing it. There are widespread networks of criminals that distribute drugs al over South Africa making it freely available on the streets and even at schools. There have been many drug busts all over the country at several schools, every primary schools.

The big driving force behind people becoming so addicted to drugs is money. As soon as the criminals who distribute these drugs have people that are addicted to them, they will start using these people to sell it to others. The payment? More drugs! This is a vicious cycle that just carries on and on. In South Africa the drug usage amongst people has become very alarming since household cleaning materials are now also being used to manufacture drugs. This is called TIK and has become a huge problem especially in Cape Town.

There has also been a scary trend happening in South Africa lately. The kingpins of the drug distribution rings are using South African people to smuggle various drugs overseas. Sometimes these people don’t know that the parcels they are “exporting” overseas contain drugs. When they get caught (which they inevitably do) they could get the death sentence. This is a reality and a similar incident had been broadcast on the news not very long ago.

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Heroin Addiction Can Kill You

Any form of addiction is a danger to one’s livelihood and well-being. And although there is a huge number of drugs out there and the existence of one drug is the existence of one drug too many, and despite the fact that the consequences of using drugs are far-reaching and astronomical, one of the most harmful drugs will always be heroin.

The health problems that arise from the use of this drug should strike fear in anyone because even the healthiest individual can be killed from a dependency on this substance. And this can happen in a number of ways!

The following is a list of the possibilities pertaining to the manner in which a heroin addiction may result in death:

• It is critical that the public understands that there are all manner of ways in which heroin can be made. There does not exist an exact formula in respect of mixing heroin; the result, therefore, is that one can find a multitude of varying degrees of heroin doses out on the streets and should one’s body not be able to handle a dosage (overdose) this could very easily lead to death.

• Heroin is most often taken through the injecting of needles. More often than not, where intravenous drug use is concerned, the needles that are used are not sterilized. The use of these dirty needles then results in the transmission of diseases, particularly HIV/AIDS. It is a scary truth that more heroin users have been killed as a result of having contracted HIV/AIDS than they have from an overdose.

• The sharing of needles means that heroin users are also at risk of contracting Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C.

• One of the most dangerous effects that heroin has on the body lies in the extreme amount of strain that is placed on the heart. The extent of this strain over long periods of time means that many users end up dying to heart failure.

• Perhaps the most silent and unassuming form of death in respect of heroin abuse is the chemical balance which results in depression and the act of suicide is a natural progression.

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Addiction advice and guidelines

Addiction can be a reliance on anything from drugs, to alcohol, to food and even prescription drugs. There are so many people across the world fighting or struggling with an addiction, and not always knowing how to get out of the situation. Addiction is not something you can do on your own, but the process of recovery has to begin with you and decision only you can make.

The first step is acknowledging you have a problem, having the desire to quit, and realising the hard work ahead of you once you have made that initial step. Addicts are often inhibited by fear, and it is this fear that prevents them from taking that initial step. It is not easy, but with the support and friends and family, it can be made a bit easier.

Once that initial decision has been made, the road to recovery can begin. As said above, addiction is not something you can overcome alone, so the best advice is to join a support group or check into a treatment facility where the proper medical and professional help can be administered. Going through recovery with people who have had similar experiences to you and know what it is like to start this process of recovery can have a positive influence on you and your own recovery process. It is important to be understood and have the support of like-minded people.

Making sure your mind is in the right place is important to recovery; a half-hearted attempted at giving up an addiction is going to prove unsuccessful and a relapse is likely. You need to be 100% sure that this is what you are going to do and you are prepared to put in the hard work and make the necessary lifestyle changes. Your addiction is not the only thing that is going to change, and you need to be prepared to deal with changes in relationships, changes emotionally, and changes in the work environment.

It can be overwhelming but with the right support, addiction can be overcome quite successfully and it can remain that way for the rest of your life.

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Heroin addiction in South Africa

Heroin (diamorphine) is an opioid drug whose use has been rapidly growing in South Africa. It it usually imported from Afganistan and is synthesized from the poppy seed. The effects of heroin addiction include weight loss, infections, impotence and lung problems. Since it’s introduction to poorer townships, the availability of herion has skyrocketed while the price has dropped.

has been growing steadily since it’s introduction. Heroin can be injected, smoked, snorted or inhaled (“chasing the dragon”). Unlike in many other countries, smoking is the most popular method of ingesting heroin in South Africa. Unfortunately, intravenous heroin use is growing and the repercussions could be huge when considering the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa. This slow shift from smoking heroin to injecting it hints at the severity of , as intravenous use points to a heavy drug addiction due to the quick and intense rush, while users usually smoke it in the beginning stages of addiction.

remains, and will continue to remain, a big problem as treatment centres are not properly equipped. Heroin is highly addictive and withdrawals can be so severe as to cause death. Quitting cold-turkey is simply not possible for many heroin addicts. Heroin addicts require supervision in an in-treatment program, which is very expensive and many South Africans cannot afford it. Out-patient programs like NA are overwhemingly ineffective when it comes to heroin addiction treatment, as the physical and pyschological addiction is too great.

Treatment for is still in the early stages, as most treatment centres are not equppied to deal with the brutal nature of heroin withdrawal. Heroin addiction can be so severe that withdrawals may start within hours of last use. Physical withdrawal symptoms such as insomia and sore muscles can last months, and psychological addiction may never completely disappear.

Heroin is a highly dangerous and addictive drug, even though it’s compounds may have medical uses.. is a growing problem that the country is not equipped to handle yet.

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Cocaine Addiction

Drug abuse is growing in many parts of South Africa and is considered by many health and social research organisations to be a serious problem for government to contend with.

People often wonder what a good source of drug abuse information is and what exactly makes a person a drug addict. While there are no easy answers generally the best sources of help are medical centres such as clinics and drug addiction treatment centres. There are centres placed all over South Africa.

While it is difficult to determine precisely what drug abuse is it is commonly accepted that if a drug has a negative impact on a person’s life as it relates to their drug use then that person is probably suffering from some form of drug addiction. It is at this point that a person needs to seek professional help and enter an addiction recovery plan. Cocaine is very addictive and can lead to severe side effects that can affect the quality of life and it can also lead to death. Cocaine is one of the most prominent drugs available in society, it is expensive and that is the reason a lot of addicts are poor. They often will sell their belonging for more money. Some addicts even go as far as to seal money and possessions to sell.

Cocaine addicts are people who are addicted to the drug cocaine. This drug is often in powder form and is usually snorted through the nose. A person taking this drug can form an addiction very quickly and it can be very hard to break. All cocaine addicts need to enter a drug rehabilitation centre. These centres can either offer an inpatient program or an outpatient program. They have qualified psychologist which will provide in depth counselling to help come to the reason why people abuse cocaine.

They will also give alternative coping skills for life. These clinics also offer medical doctors who will be on hand to help with any medical problem. They will also help ease the symptoms of withdrawal along with any side effects the people are suffering from the drug.

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