South Africa: More And More Youngsters Admitted to Rehabilitation ... - AllAfrica.com

Gabi KhumaloNorthen Cape

About 36 percentage of patients admitted to rehabilitation and treatment Centres for matter maltreatment in the Northern Cape are aged between 10 and 19 old age old.

Speaking at the International Day Against Drug Maltreatment and Illicit Trafficking jubilation held on Thursday at Orange Farm, Sociable Development Deputy Minister, Dr Jean Swanson-Jacobs, said immature work force and women under the age of 18 old age continued to frequent shebeens and tap houses as if this is the most normal thing to do.

Young people are used by the drug Godheads and law-breaking mobs as drug traffickers, he said. Mister Swanson-Jacobs said that matter usage during adolescence have also been associated with engagement in law-breaking and gang-related activities. "Substance maltreatment additions the chance of piquant in high hazard sexual behaviours, placing the user at hazard for both unwanted gestations and sexually transmitted diseases including HIV.

"I believe that something have to be done as a substance of national precedence to reconstruct the societal cloth of our state before it is too late to rectify the state of affairs from deteriorating further," a concerned Mister Swanson-Jacobs said. He said that the successful combating of the drug job necessitates the application of three elements namely, supplying decrease through law enforcement, demand decrease through bar schemes among others and injury decrease through treatment and societal support. "These elements are the basis of the National Drug Maestro Plan 2006-2011, which admits the important part of assorted sections and federal agencies in combating drug maltreatment and trafficking," he said. This attack lets for the engagement of all stakeholders from grassroots and community degree to the national level. "Provinces and national sections are guided by the program to explicate mini-Drug Master Plans to implement prevention, early intercession and treatment services."

He encouraged the community to take part in the Provincial Substance Maltreatment Forums and Local Drug Action Committees. The commissions dwell of societal workers, teachers, justness and police force functionaries and community representatives. He noted that while government's political campaign to battle matter maltreatment marks all age groups, they prioritise children and young person as the age of experimentation with drugs have dropped to about 10 years. The International Day Against Drug Maltreatment and Illicit Trafficking is famed annually on 26 June to raise consciousness surrounding drug abuse. This year's event was famed under the subject "Do drugs control your life?"

It is estimated that alcoholic beverage maltreatment is a factor in nearly half of fatal route clangs in South Africa costing about 7 000 lives annually. The National Institute of Crime Prevention and Reintegration of Offenders (NICRO) have got reported that alcoholic beverage lends substantially to the high relative incidence of law-breaking in the country.

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The survey establish that just under one-half of all male captives had consumed alcoholic beverage or drugs at the clip of, or before committing, their most recent crime. A conservative estimation of the economical costs to South Africa of alcoholic beverage maltreatment is between R8.7 billion and R17.4 billion per year, based on research surveys conducted in other countries. About 11 million household members have got to stomach the disturbance of life with job or hazardous drinkers. Hazardous imbibing impacts 17.5 million South Africans. Meanwhile, the South African Depression and Anxiety Group in concurrence with the section have got unveiled South Africa's first toll-free Substance Maltreatment Aid Line for people to entree help, support and appropriate treatment.

The toll free line is 0800 12 13 14 and samariums figure is 32312. This week, the section presented the Prevention of and Treatment Substance Maltreatment Bill to the National Assembly with the position to drive the Prevention and Treatment of Drug Dependence Act No. Twenty of 1992. The chief purpose of the Bill is the combating of matter maltreatment through prevention, early intervention, treatment and re-integration programmes.

The Bill do proviso for the constitution of programs for bar of matter abuse.