One in three adults admits to using drugs

ONE IN three adults in South Africa uses drugs regularly, and more than 60 percent of pupils can buy drugs at school, according to a new survey.

An annual researched report by the Anti-Drug Alliance (ADA) has released a survey conducted from October 2011 to October 2012.

It said that in previous years the survey found that roughly a third of the respondents said they had used drugs; this time it was no different.

“It is now a fact that one in three adults in South Africa uses drugs on a regular basis,” according to the report.

It also showed that many use drugs recreationally compared to the number of users who were dependent on drugs.

The use of dagga has risen by 11 percent when compared with last year’s report, and nyaope (dagga mixed with heroin) has increased by 8.4 percent, while methamphetamine (used in khat and tik) was growing “exponentially”.

Ecstasy remains a “party” drug – with 12.1 percent more users, according to the report.

“Most users of this or MDMA will use it occasionally and not exclusively.”

The biggest growth rate of drug usage occurred among people between the ages of 22 and 35.

“Cocaine and crack cocaine usage remained relatively static; however, we have seen many addicts migrating from cocaine to cat and a small percentage from crack to tik,” the report said.

The statistics were based on 57 809 points of information with data captured from 35 433 respondents in an online survey, and an additional 22 376 e-mails, phone calls, submissions to a website and social media portals.

The vast majority of the respondents were based in Gauteng – the most densely populated province with the highest number of internet users – while about 9.4 percent were from the Western Cape, the report said.

Researchers interacted with 2 512 teenagers throughout the year at various schools and functions for the survey.

They found that 69 percent of teens surveyed said drugs were readily available to buy at their schools, with dagga being the most readily available.

ADA’s chief executive officer, Quintin van Kerken, said it was clear from the survey that people were starting to think about the drug problems in their environments.

The question in relation to this was: “Do you think that a possible solution to the drug problem we face would be to legalise/decriminalise certain drugs?”

Most respondents – 54.3percent – said “no”, 36.2 percent said “yes” and 9.4 percent were undecided.