CITY'S HEROIN EXPLOSION

The city is awash in hard drugs, with a 10-fold rise in heroin abuse
over the past two years, a top UN drug agency official warned.

And a huge haul by police of illicit Mandrax - with a street value of
R17.5 million - underlined the crisis yesterday, the international Day
Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

The report on soaring drug use came from the UN Office on Drugs and
Crime representative, Rob Boone, in a briefing to MPs yesterday, as
the UN launched a campaign titled: "Let's talk about drugs".

The campaign aims to encourage parents, relatives, teachers and peers
to discuss the range of issues surrounding substance abuse with
children and young people.

Boone said dagga use had doubled since 1990 and was still the most
common drug, abuse, followed by Mandrax.

"Heroin is our biggest concern and has increased significantly since
2000," he said.

"Seven percent of drug treatment patients in Gauteng and 8% in Cape
Town have identified heroin as their most common drug."

Overall, the use of heroin in South Africa has risen from 1% of drug
use in 2001 to 5%.

The biggest growth in heroin use in the past two years had been among
black and coloured users.

Cape Town drug treatment records showed the number of coloured
patients with a heroin addiction had risen from 2% to 22% of cases
between 2001 and 2002.

Most disturbing was the prevalence of injected heroin use, with 34% of
drug patients in Cape Town and 48% in Gauteng admitting to it.

Boone pointed out this came with sharing of needles and the spreading
of HIV/Aids.

There was clear evidence that more and more were turning to
prostitution to pay for their drug habit.

"One particular issue we cover in our office is violent crime,
particularly gender violence and the connection between drugs, gender
violence and HIV together," Boone said.

"South Africa has one of the highest rates of rape in the world, with
about 25% of adult population being HIV positive, while 49% of those
convicted or arrested for rape test positive for drugs. "

Roughly 46% of all those arrested in Durban, Cape Town and Gauteng
tested positive for drugs, with 66% of housebreakers and 59% of car
thieves found to be on drugs. - political staff