'FUN SIZE', CHEAP HEROIN TARGETED AT SCHOOL PUPILS

Heroin in Cape Town has become cheaper, more widely available and
better marketed, experts have said in the wake of a damning UN report
naming South Africa as a growing player in international drug
trafficking.

Not only has the price of heroin dropped drastically in South Africa
in the past few years - making it more accessible to teenagers and
schoolchildren - it is also available in smaller and more affordable
"fun-size" quantities.

A steady supply of the drug has been available in Cape Town for the
first time, says Grant Jardine of the Cape Town Drug Counselling Centre.

"Cape Town is particularly badly affected as it is part of a major
international drug-trafficking route where heroin comes down from
southeast Asia and central Asia, through Africa and exits to Europe
and America," he said.

With an estimated 15 000 heroin users in Cape Town, abuse of the drug
has reached epidemic proportions.

"With the emergence of tik (methamphetamine), as the drug of choice
in Cape Town, the heroin problem has been overlooked," Jardine said.

"But it has been growing steadily and in the past two years the
Drug Counselling Centre has seen it far outstrip Mandrax and dagga
use."

In recent months drug syndicates seem to have been targeting Cape
Town's youth, says Charles Parry, of the Medical Research Council.

"There seems to be a deliberate move to bring the price of heroin
down and sell it in smaller quantities. The dealers are also more
subtly bringing high school children in by selling it as 'Unga', a
smokeable format mixed with dagga."

In June it became necessary to open a detoxification clinic dedicated
to heroin at Stikland Hospital, Cape Town, to cope with the number of
addicts trying to quit. The numerous harmful effects are causing
considerable unease among doctors, who have noted there is a growing
numbers of users.

"Heroin can do enormous damage when injected because the talcum or
other substances it is mixed with can build up in kidneys or lungs,"
said Lize Weich, a doctor.

It also slows the respiratory system and can stop
breathing.

"If an addict has been out of use for a while, say in prison or in
rehab, their tolerance will have gone down and it is easy to take a
lethal overdose."

Addicts with painful withdrawal symptoms often turn to crime or
prostitution to fund their next fix. Intravenous users are also
particularly vulnerable to infectious diseases such as hepatitis and
HIV.

Heroin addicts also miss out on social and psychological development.
"An addict who begins at 14 will have the emotional tools of a
14-year-old at 25," says Jardine.