Tik has taken hold in Cape Town with terrifying speed, with the number of addicts increasing almost 10-fold in the space of a year.
Specialists call the sharp rise "unprecedented" and say new laws are needed to clamp down on the sale of the chemicals used to make the drug.
Tik, also known commonly as meth, tuk, speed or crystal, is a hugely addictive methamphetamine drug, right up with heroin, although not quite as addictive.
The white, odourless, bitter crystalline powder, which dissolves easily in water or alcohol, is a powerful stimulant that affects the central nervous system.
'The drug gives adolescents what they want' In South Africa, users typically smoke the fumes after the powder or crystal, placed in a light bulb, is heated with a lighter.
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According to the latest figures, from the second half of last year, the number of addicts seeking treatment for tik use (as their main substance of abuse) spiralled from just 2,3 percent of total users in treatment in the city at the end of 2003 to nearly 20 percent at the end of 2004.
The statistics are tracked by the South African Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use, and involve patients at 20 specialist treatment centres in Cape Town. The network has been tracking tik use since 2002.
Even the number of users seeking treatment for tik as their secondary drug of abuse spiked sharply, almost doubling since the end of 2003. At the end of 2003 the figure was five percent of users, and the most recent statistics show 9,6 percent of addicts reporting tik as their secondary drug of abuse.
Professor Charles Parry, director of the Medical Research Council's alcohol and drug abuse research group, tracks tik abuse with his colleagues Andreas Pluddemann and Bronwyn Myers.
In their report, just released, they call the findings "unprecedented in terms of the sharp increase in the number of patients seeking treatment for methamphetamine-related problems".
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