CHILD DEALERS FUEL THE WILDFIRE SPREAD OF TIK CRAZE AT SCHOOLS

Children selling drugs to their peers could be one of the main reasons why
the "in-drug" tik, or crystal methamphetamine, has in a relatively short
period spread like wildfire across the Western Cape.

This is the opinion of Fish Hoek Drug Crisis & Info Centre counsellor John
Malcolm, who has been working with drug addicts for 28 years.

"Part of the reason it is spreading so fast is that it is (relatively)
cheap .. so that kids are able to sell it to other kids. It is
frightening," he said.

Tik comes in the form of a white, odourless, bitter-tasting crystal and is
a powerful stimulant that affects the central nervous system.

Users normally place the crystal inside a light bulb (of which the top has
been removed) before using a lighter to heat it so that the crystal
vapourises. It is then inhaled using a straw.

Tik child addicts Malcolm comes into contact with are between 10 and 18
years old.

He said a gram of pure crystal methamphetamine could cost between R200 and
R300, out of which the user can get 10 "straws" (single dosages).

These straws can sell for between R50 and R80.

"You can see how lucrative it is for the dealer. If 10 kids put in R10 each
they can get a good straw. They can each get two good hits out of the
straw," he said.

He said he had noticed "an explosion" in the past year in the use of the drug.

Malcolm said the number of people approaching him for information about tik
varied from four families in a day to six in a week.

"At most I deal with 15 calls in a day."

He does not counsel but refers people to counselling centres and provides
them with information.

He deals mostly with southern suburbs queries but does receive calls from
as far afield as Atlantis.

"If (tik) is the wildfire then the wind driving the wildfire is apathy.

Apathy in government, in school and in homes.

Parents are in the very deadly mindset that it won't happen to me or my child."

Grant Jardine of the Cape Town Drug Counselling Centre also has a theory on
the recent explosion of tik use. He said the drug has been around for a
long time - it was used during World War 2 by the Nazis to keep their
soldiers awake and aggressive. The Japanese were said to have also used it
during the war.

Jardine said every generation tried to redefine itself, whether it was
through new clothes, new slang, new music or new drugs.

"We call it the generation of forgetting, adopting the previous
generation's behaviour but not their drugs. So at the moment I think we are
seeing the younger generation using tik instead of Mandrax," he said.

Tik is classified as an upper while Mandrax is a downer.

About a third of drug abusers treated at the centre use tik as their
primary drug of abuse.

At a meeting between Education MEC Cameron Dugmore and about 200
Bonteheuwel parents, teachers and community workers last night, several
parents said they were deeply concerned about the new drug crisis.

One parent begged "somebody" to help her with her teenage son. "He has been
using tik and I think he is now smoking 'slowboats' (dagga cigarettes). He
has been turned away from school and is lying at home. Is there anybody
here who can please help me."

Another parent said she had recently encountered a schoolgirl walking off
the school's premises in search of drugs.

"I asked her where she was going. She told me there was no tik available at
school and that she was on her way to go get some elsewhere. Something
needs to be done to this epidemic. Tik kills," said the woman.

Dugmore told the parents he had asked the national government to provide
the Western Cape with more resources to help deal with the problem.

He said as part of next week's Drug Awareness Week, every school in the
Western Cape would have to set aside at least an hour for a drug awareness
programme.