DRUG SHOCK

SHOCK, police in the Netherlands believe, is the best way to stop
children experimenting with drugs.

When police have a young addict in the severe stages of withdrawal -
sweating, shivering and sick - they ask the addict to share their
experiences with others. The police then visit nearby schools and
collect children aged about 13 or 14, just the age they are most
likely to begin playing with drugs, and bus them to the rehabilitation
centre. They learn about the drug-taking experience from somebody not
much older than themselves.

Combined with other strategies - and in spite of a policy which
tolerates dagga, under strict conditions - Netherlands police believe
the rate of addiction to hard drugs is coming down, against world trends.

The best cure, they believe, is never to start. Or, as one parent put
it, an addict is never cured of the drug habit, they are only in remission.

By the measure of some street children in South African cities, 13 and
14 is already too late. They have been addicted for years.

Two police traps this week suggest the scale of the problem. Four tons
of methqualone, the main ingredient of mandrax, and R70000 in cash
were found in KwaZulu-Natal; 84 bags of dagga worth R2,3 million were
confiscated in the Free State, destined for Cape Town.

A total of 61 000 people were arrested last year on drug-related
charges, according to Director Bala Naidoo. The police had also
identified 65 drug syndicates operating in South Africa.

Whether abuse is increasing or decreasing is difficult to track.
Statistics on illegal drugs depend almost entirely on police actions.
When the police are working vigorously to track and arrest drug
traffickers, the statistics show an increase, when they should almost
certainly show a decline. If police do nothing, the apparent rate of
drug dealing appears to drop to nothing, when it almost certainly increases.

Nor does any increase or decrease in statistics matter much to
families living with an addict, young or old. That the problem is
widespread and serious is clear from the quantities of drugs which are
found and the profits to be made from moving them.

Teenagers are naturally given to adventure and experiment and varying
degrees of emotional volatility. Drugs appear to offer a suitably
defiant and fashionable release. If they are readily available, the
risks are very high.

The way back from addiction can be long and difficult.

The Central and Eastern Cape Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence
(Sanca) marks a week leading to tomorrow's International Day Against
Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking with several events in East London.

"Treatment Works" is the theme of a session in the City Hall from 9am
to noon today. From 6pm this evening until 6pm tomorrow, Sanca holds a
24-hour marathon support group meeting at Victoria Methodist Church in
Quigney, which will include Teenagers Against Drug Abuse (Tada). Tada
also has a talent contest and Miss and Mr Tada competition at the Port
Rex Technical High Schools at 6pm this evening. Telephone (043) 722
1210.