Cape Town - Drug rehab centres have noted an increase in cocaine usage, while others are concerned about addicts shooting up in the streets using needles without the control of law enforcement or police in hubs across the City.
Two weeks ago, the South African Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use (SACENDU) revealed via their report that tik also remained the drug of choice by addicts admitted to facilities.
Areas such as the Town Centre in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town CBD, Bellville CBD, Parow CBD and Wynberg have become known as hotspots for drug hubs and drug dealing and prostitution.
A video of a drug addict and dealer was shared with Weekend Argus and shows how a drug dealer and addict shoot up in the Town Centre.
The video was made by Jasmine Harris, a former community policing forum member, Justice of the Peace Officer and member of the Mitchells Plain United Walker’s Forum, who has been trading in the shopping hub for the past 38 years and knows each drug dealer and merchant.
Every day, Harris witnesses trading and exchanging of drugs and says she will not tolerate it and goes on expeditions where she chases them away from their trading posts.
In the one video, you can see the drug user’s needle stuck in his arm, and he is not worried that Harris is filming while others make a run for it.
In another video, drug merchants are seen exchanging drugs for cash and start running away when they realise they are being filmed.
Harris said she shared the videos with City authorities.
“This is an ongoing problem here. Drug pedalling, prostitution is the norm in Mitchells Plain Town Centre,” she said.
“The City moved us out of the lanes and promised us 24/7 law enforcement, but it never happened. The prostitution and drugs, the law enforcement and police, are turning a blind eye, and then they want to say I am a vigilante.
“I will do what I do best, and that is to fight crime. Even if it is one merchant that I can rid my community of, I will do so. I have made many videos and pictures of what is happening in the Town Centre, and nothing is happening. I sent a report to the City of Cape Town, and as you can see on the videos, the merchants ran away when they saw me.”
In the latest report by SACENDU, 2433 people have been admitted at 36 treatment centres in the first half of 2021.
While the Department of Social Development noted that during the 2021/22 year, 9199 individuals accessed substance abuse prevention and treatment services.
Shafiek Davids of the Sultan Bahu Rehabilitation Centre sees addicts coming off the streets on a daily basis on their road to recovery.
He said they noted an increase in users becoming addicted to cocaine which is prominent in African countries.
“To start off, we have noted a substantial uptick in the use of cocaine in the Town Centre hub, which makes sense and it is positively correlated with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reporting that cocaine use is widespread throughout West and Southern Africa, with demand increasing rapidly and consistently hand over hand for the last two decades,” said Davids.
“With regards to intravenous users in both the Wynberg and Town Centre hub, the phenomenon of intravenous use was essentially unknown in Mitchells Plain compared to pockets of intravenous users that have always been historically centralised in Wynberg and the Central Business District.
“This changed years ago when we noted an increase in intravenous heroin users seeking access to treatment services which indicated one of two possibilities; intravenous users migrated back to their communities of origin and taught individuals who then smoking the drug how to inject; this could have been due to complaints of developed tolerance from smoking the drug or, it meant that substance users had access to the materials needed to start using intravenously.
“The one common trait Town Centre and the Wynberg hub have in common is the availability of needle exchange programmes. “
Davids said the use of needles opened the doors to the exchange of sickness and viruses. “This harm reduction approach is evidence-based and operates on the facet that should intravenous users have access to clean needles, syringes, saline water and other materials, the rate of HIV, hepatitis and blood-borne diseases would be reduced considerably.
“In total, Sultan Bahu Centre treated 145 clients seeking treatment service from April to June, the majority of which engaged in opiate, methamphetamine and cannabis use.”
Police spokesperson Colonel Andre Traut said their teams worked hard on reducing trade in hubs and used their K9 unit.
“On provincial level, detectives are assigned to police and investigate organised drug-related crime. However, SAPS operations are not usually conducted in silos as many of our initiatives are joint ventures between various units, including the K9 unit, due to the efficiency of sniffer dogs.”
Ruth Solomons, the spokesperson for the City’s Metro Police Department, said continuous operations were underway in the hubs. “Metro Police have numerous integrated operations to address the above-mentioned issues. The K9s had a recent operation on 24 June in Parow CBD and conducted searches for drugs.”