INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS

File photo - Some of the heroin seized during a police raid in Florida Road. PICTURE: MATTHEW SAVIDES

Drug use in Durban’s middle-class suburbia and in nightclubs and bars across the city is increasing dramatically. Cocaine, ecstasy, mandrax and heroin are finding their way into affluent areas and party venues, but with very few people willing to report it, police are struggling to come to grips with the problem.

While police could not confirm the increase - saying they didn’t have statistics available to say categorically whether this was the case - they acknowledge there is a problem and that they have made several drug busts in upmarket areas.

NGOs, however, say it is a noticeable trend sweeping across Durban’s laps of luxury, shown in increasing numbers of people coming into treatment centres.

The problem was highlighted two weeks ago when Gareth Kyle and Tamryn Coetzee died after taking what is believed to be a contaminated drug during a house party at Sheffield Beach, near Ballito.

Both died after taking the drug, and police are still awaiting toxicology and post-mortem reports to determine the causes of death. Both have since been buried.

But this is not an isolated incident, according to Carol du Toit, South African National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (Sanca) director in Durban. She told the Tribune drug use appears to be more and more common.

“Drug use has been taking place in affluent areas for years now, but as is the trend with drug use in all South African communities, there is an increase. This is evident from the increase in admissions from these areas to our treatment centres,” she said.

The drugs of choice? Pretty much everything and anything, according to Du Toit.

“Cocaine, crack and ecstasy are popular drugs. Dagga is still widely used and mandrax seems to have reappeared on the scene during the past few months,” she said.

During a drug bust in Chatsworth with the year-old Flying Squad Narcotics Unit on Thursday, SA Police Service spokesman Colonel Jay Naicker said it was easier to get information on drug dealers in poorer suburbs, as residents were reporting drug use and identifying who was dealing drugs and where.

However, in affluent areas there was a “veil of secrecy” that surrounded drug use. There’s also a sense of denial, he said. “Parents have this ‘no, my child will never do that’ attitude and they don’t realise what’s actually happening. These people also have access to money, so the obvious sign of stealing to get money for the next hit isn’t there. It’s difficult to police,” Naicker said.

Sam Pillay, director of the Anti-Drug Forum, agrees.

“There’s a big difference between dealing drugs in townships and dealing drugs in affluent areas. In townships, everyone knows where the dealers are, but in affluent areas it’s only the users that know. The neighbours don’t even know if drugs are being dealt at a house. The properties are large, so you can’t see what’s happening inside and in these neighbourhoods, the neighbours aren’t always very neighbourly.”

Pillay said that upmarket restaurants, pubs and nightclubs were where most of this drug use happened.

“High-end drug use has always happened, but I think it has gone up recently because of how attitudes have changed towards drugs. People believe that if you’re going to a club you have to drink and take drugs to enjoy yourself more,” he said.

Du Toit said the challenge in dealing with the issue was around people’s perceptions towards drugs.

“The challenge lies in the fact that drug use in middle and upper-middle-class circles often involves the belief that using drugs is ‘normal’, recreational and controllable. Users often believe they are invincible when it comes to becoming addicted to the substances used,” she said.

Drug busts in affluent areas are not uncommon. Two weeks ago, the Narcotics Unit swooped on a flat in Philiso Court, in 8th Avenue, just off Florida Road, about 2.30am. About 1.1kg of heroin, ready for distribution, was seized and a man arrested.

In total, according to police, the street value of the drug was more than R1 million.

Naicker said busts like this did happen when information was available, but that the problem encountered by police was in township areas, rather than affluent suburbs.

“Incidents (in affluent areas) are isolated, compared with the hundreds of cases we have reported in townships. We have very few cases reported in affluent areas. If there is a problem, people aren’t forthcoming (to report it),” he said. - Tribune

matthew.savides@inl.co.za