News (Media Awareness Project) - South Africa: Tik - Help Is Just a Call Away |
| Title: | South Africa: Tik - Help Is Just a Call Away |
| Published On: | 2004-06-24 |
| Source: | Cape Argus (South Africa) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-01-18 07:00:45 |
TIK - HELP IS JUST A CALL AWAY
The Ke Moja drug awareness pilot project was launched at a few Western
Cape schools in high-risk areas last year.
The project had been running in Tshwane the year before with some
success and the Western Cape Education Department's Safe School
programme selected local schools for it.
Jean Benjamin, the Deputy Minister of Social Development, announced
earlier this month that this programme will be extended to all
provinces by the end of the year to make school children more aware of
the dangers of drug abuse.
Nariman Khan, the director of the Safe Schools programme, said the
pilot project led to an increase in the number of calls to their
toll-free number from high school pupils looking for information and
help on drug dependency.
"We can interpret that in a lot of ways. Either pupils weren't aware
of the helpline at first or there was an increase in drug use. I think
it's an increase in awareness.
"If a pupil phones in to say they are using drugs they need online
debriefing and then they are referred to a place that can help," she
said.
The Safe Schools statistics indicate that most of the callers with
drug dependency problems are high school pupils, but the youngest
pupil they have helped was a 10-year-old with an alcohol abuse problem.
For the past year, pupils from 161 schools have contacted the
toll-free help line operators.
[sidebar]
EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW BUT DIDN'T KNOW WHO TO
ASK
What is Crystal Meth or Tik?
It is an amphetamine which stimulates the central nervous system and
speeds up the functioning of many vital organs, hence the name
"uppers". First synthesised in 1887, the drug stimulates the body in a
similar way to adrenalin, which is produced when the body needs extra
energy.
Why is it called Tik?
When the methamphetamine crystals are heated in a lightbulb the
crystals make a popping, ticking sound as the heat spreads rapidly
through the thin glass of the lightbulb.
How are amphetamines used?
Amphetamines can be taken orally, injected or smoked. Immediately
after smoking the drug, or injecting it intravenously, the user
experiences an intense rush or "flash" that lasts only a few minutes
and is described as extremely pleasurable.
Snorting or oral ingestion produces euphoria - a high but not intense
rush. Snorting produces effects within three to five minutes, and oral
ingestion produces effects in 15 to 20 minutes.
As with other stimulants, methamphetamine is most often used in a
"binge and crash" pattern.
Because tolerance for methamphetamine occurs within minutes - so the
pleasurable effects disappear even before the drug concentration in
the blood falls significantly - users try to maintain the high by
bingeing on it.
Initially, small doses of the drug do increase the ability to
concentrate. Research has shown that it releases high levels of the
neurotransmitter dopamine, which stimulates brain cells, causing
enhanced mood and increased body movement.
What do amphetamines contain?
Most amphetamines sold illegally contain a mixture of pure
amphetamines and talcum powder, baking powder, starch, glucose or
quinine. These additives can be highly poisonous.
They can cause collapsed veins, tetanus, abscesses, and damage to the
heart, lungs, liver and brain. And because the user doesn't know
whether they are using 5% or 50% pure amphetamines, it is easy to
accidentally overdose.
How potent is it really?
Because of the zealous refinement of recipes, today's meth is as much
as six times as potent as the meth that the bikers sold and flower
children bought in the 1960s.
The most popular form of meth today - d-meth - is as close to 100%
purity as was ever thought possible.
What are the effects?
A brief, intense rush is reported by those who smoke or inject
methamphetamine.
In animals, the drug has been shown to damage nerve terminals in the
dopamine-containing regions of the brain. The large release of
dopamine with methamphetamine is thought to contribute to the drug's
toxic effects on nerve ends in the brain.
High doses can elevate body temperature to dangerous, sometimes
lethal, levels, and can cause convulsions.
They cause a faster pulse, as well as an increase in the breathing
rate and blood pressure, and in many people produce a feeling of
well-being and elation, along with a feeling of surging energy.
Amphetamines are sometimes used for slimming as they produce extra
energy - so less food is needed. They also curb the appetite.
How is it made?
Increasingly meth is made in backyards and frequently in family
kitchens. There appears to be no limit to creativity in meth recipes;
they're traded on the internet and handed down among manufacturers,
from generation to generation.
What are the long-term effects?
Addiction is a chronic, relapsing disease, in which addicts
compulsively seek drugs, accompanied by physical changes in the brain.
Chronic abusers show symptoms that can include violence, anxiety,
confusion and insomnia.
Eventually it inhibits sexual functioning in people, who can also
become paranoid and have hallucinations and delusions.
The paranoia can result in homicidal as well as suicidal
thoughts.
Meth abusers die at higher rates from suicide, traffic accidents and
murder, and commonly suffer overdoses and malnutrition.
How addictive is Tik?
The rate of addiction is breathtaking; over six months of use, 94% of
meth smokers become addicted, along with 72% of those who snort it.
Tolerance develops rapidly, so users need more and more to get high,
and start going on longer and longer binges. Some users avoid sleep
for three to 15 days while bingeing.
[sidebar]
Information courtesy of the Cape Town Drug Counselling
Centre
Hotline Numbers
South African National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence
(SANCA) 021 945 4080/1/2 021 638 5116 021 919 9558
Cape Town Drug Counselling Centre 021 447 8026 www.drugcentre.org.za
Safe Schools Call Centre 0800 45 46 47
De Nova Rehab
021 988 1138
Ramot Counselling Centre
021 939 2033
Toevlug, Worcester
023 342 1162
Kenilworth Clinic
021 762 4500
Crescent Clinic
021 762 7666
Stepping Stones Clinic
021 783 4230
Tabankulu Addiction Recovery Centre
021 785 4664
The Ke Moja drug awareness pilot project was launched at a few Western
Cape schools in high-risk areas last year.
The project had been running in Tshwane the year before with some
success and the Western Cape Education Department's Safe School
programme selected local schools for it.
Jean Benjamin, the Deputy Minister of Social Development, announced
earlier this month that this programme will be extended to all
provinces by the end of the year to make school children more aware of
the dangers of drug abuse.
Nariman Khan, the director of the Safe Schools programme, said the
pilot project led to an increase in the number of calls to their
toll-free number from high school pupils looking for information and
help on drug dependency.
"We can interpret that in a lot of ways. Either pupils weren't aware
of the helpline at first or there was an increase in drug use. I think
it's an increase in awareness.
"If a pupil phones in to say they are using drugs they need online
debriefing and then they are referred to a place that can help," she
said.
The Safe Schools statistics indicate that most of the callers with
drug dependency problems are high school pupils, but the youngest
pupil they have helped was a 10-year-old with an alcohol abuse problem.
For the past year, pupils from 161 schools have contacted the
toll-free help line operators.
[sidebar]
EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW BUT DIDN'T KNOW WHO TO
ASK
What is Crystal Meth or Tik?
It is an amphetamine which stimulates the central nervous system and
speeds up the functioning of many vital organs, hence the name
"uppers". First synthesised in 1887, the drug stimulates the body in a
similar way to adrenalin, which is produced when the body needs extra
energy.
Why is it called Tik?
When the methamphetamine crystals are heated in a lightbulb the
crystals make a popping, ticking sound as the heat spreads rapidly
through the thin glass of the lightbulb.
How are amphetamines used?
Amphetamines can be taken orally, injected or smoked. Immediately
after smoking the drug, or injecting it intravenously, the user
experiences an intense rush or "flash" that lasts only a few minutes
and is described as extremely pleasurable.
Snorting or oral ingestion produces euphoria - a high but not intense
rush. Snorting produces effects within three to five minutes, and oral
ingestion produces effects in 15 to 20 minutes.
As with other stimulants, methamphetamine is most often used in a
"binge and crash" pattern.
Because tolerance for methamphetamine occurs within minutes - so the
pleasurable effects disappear even before the drug concentration in
the blood falls significantly - users try to maintain the high by
bingeing on it.
Initially, small doses of the drug do increase the ability to
concentrate. Research has shown that it releases high levels of the
neurotransmitter dopamine, which stimulates brain cells, causing
enhanced mood and increased body movement.
What do amphetamines contain?
Most amphetamines sold illegally contain a mixture of pure
amphetamines and talcum powder, baking powder, starch, glucose or
quinine. These additives can be highly poisonous.
They can cause collapsed veins, tetanus, abscesses, and damage to the
heart, lungs, liver and brain. And because the user doesn't know
whether they are using 5% or 50% pure amphetamines, it is easy to
accidentally overdose.
How potent is it really?
Because of the zealous refinement of recipes, today's meth is as much
as six times as potent as the meth that the bikers sold and flower
children bought in the 1960s.
The most popular form of meth today - d-meth - is as close to 100%
purity as was ever thought possible.
What are the effects?
A brief, intense rush is reported by those who smoke or inject
methamphetamine.
In animals, the drug has been shown to damage nerve terminals in the
dopamine-containing regions of the brain. The large release of
dopamine with methamphetamine is thought to contribute to the drug's
toxic effects on nerve ends in the brain.
High doses can elevate body temperature to dangerous, sometimes
lethal, levels, and can cause convulsions.
They cause a faster pulse, as well as an increase in the breathing
rate and blood pressure, and in many people produce a feeling of
well-being and elation, along with a feeling of surging energy.
Amphetamines are sometimes used for slimming as they produce extra
energy - so less food is needed. They also curb the appetite.
How is it made?
Increasingly meth is made in backyards and frequently in family
kitchens. There appears to be no limit to creativity in meth recipes;
they're traded on the internet and handed down among manufacturers,
from generation to generation.
What are the long-term effects?
Addiction is a chronic, relapsing disease, in which addicts
compulsively seek drugs, accompanied by physical changes in the brain.
Chronic abusers show symptoms that can include violence, anxiety,
confusion and insomnia.
Eventually it inhibits sexual functioning in people, who can also
become paranoid and have hallucinations and delusions.
The paranoia can result in homicidal as well as suicidal
thoughts.
Meth abusers die at higher rates from suicide, traffic accidents and
murder, and commonly suffer overdoses and malnutrition.
How addictive is Tik?
The rate of addiction is breathtaking; over six months of use, 94% of
meth smokers become addicted, along with 72% of those who snort it.
Tolerance develops rapidly, so users need more and more to get high,
and start going on longer and longer binges. Some users avoid sleep
for three to 15 days while bingeing.
[sidebar]
Information courtesy of the Cape Town Drug Counselling
Centre
Hotline Numbers
South African National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence
(SANCA) 021 945 4080/1/2 021 638 5116 021 919 9558
Cape Town Drug Counselling Centre 021 447 8026 www.drugcentre.org.za
Safe Schools Call Centre 0800 45 46 47
De Nova Rehab
021 988 1138
Ramot Counselling Centre
021 939 2033
Toevlug, Worcester
023 342 1162
Kenilworth Clinic
021 762 4500
Crescent Clinic
021 762 7666
Stepping Stones Clinic
021 783 4230
Tabankulu Addiction Recovery Centre
021 785 4664
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