CHEAP HEROIN IS KILLING OUR CHILDREN

Highly addictive heroin available at R20 to R30 a fix is hitting
teenagers across the country with devastating effects. The price of
various low-grade heroin mixes - "nyaope" in Gauteng, "sugars" in
Durban, "unga" in Cape Town and "pinch" in Mpumalanga - means teens
can pool pocket-money to share a deathly high.

SA National Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Sanca) national
director Shamien Garda said nyaope use had increased among the youth
in Gauteng, particularly in the north of Pretoria, in the past year.

"Because it's a combination of very cheap dagga and heroin, it's
easily available and not expensive. And so they tend to go for it."

National narcotics head for organised crime, Senior Superintendent
Deven Naicker said the rise of heroin in black communities was a
recent trend. "It's moved across colour now. We are seeing increased
usage by black communities where at one stage it was just cannabis
and mandrax."

"That's how drug traffickers operate, they look for a good market,"
he added. "They did the same thing in the Western Cape and took the
mandrax market and turned into a crystal meth market."

There was an overall increase in heroin addicts at Gauteng drug
rehabilitation centres last year, according to figures from the South
African Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use (Sacendu).

Heroin was listed as the most commonly used drug by Gauteng teenagers
after dagga and alcohol, with higher abuse levels than cat, crack and
inhalants.