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- Methamphetamine or "tik" smuggling is on the rise in South Africa.
- The Western Cape government said millions had been allocated to help with substance abuse.
- Rehabilitation centres said more needed to be done to combat the ongoing problem.
South Africa is a hotspot for methamphetamine or "tik" trafficking.
The 2023 World Drug Report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime recently revealed that methamphetamine trafficking is on the rise in Africa. South Africa is identified as one of the regions with the largest average quantity of methamphetamine seized, alongside Mozambique and Nigeria.
The report, released in June, said drug use had increased worldwide, with 296 million people using drugs in 2021. It amounts to one in every 17 people – a 23% increase in global drug use over the past decade.
In response to the report, MEC for Social Development Sharna Fernandez said "tik" was one of the most abused substances in the Western Cape.
Fernandes said the provincial government had allocated R108.8 million to the substance abuse, prevention and rehabilitation programme in the current financial year.
She said:
According to the South African Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use, 2 270 people were admitted to treatment centres in the Western Cape in the first half of 2022.
The director of the Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children, Bernadine Bachar, said the centre's rehabilitation programme for gender-based violence survivors had seen an increase in methamphetamine dependency.
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"In fact, currently, all requests for placement are from survivors who are dependent on methamphetamine. Our programme is constantly full," said Bachar.
She said there was a dire need for subsidised substance abuse programmes in the Western Cape, but adequate funding was an ongoing challenge.
Narcotics Anonymous (NA) in the Western Cape said recovery programmes for addicts were essential.
"We have over 60 meetings in the Western Cape alone, which are well-attended by members of NA seeking and living a life without the use of drugs," said an NA spokesperson.
