By Yugendree Naidoo
Desperate drug addicts who want to kick their life-destroying habit battle to get into a rehabilitation centre because of the high cost of treatment at private centres.
There is only one free treatment centre in the Western Cape, where many addicts come from poor areas.
Treatment in a private rehab can cost anything from R3 500 to R32 500.
And, adding to the woes of addicts, many say they struggle to stay off drugs when they return home because the areas where they live are "drug-infested".
Counsellors and social workers in the frontline of the war being waged against tik and, increasingly, heroin, say it can take anything from six weeks to five months for addicts to get into the province's only free, state-sponsored drug rehabilitation centre.
But during the long wait for a place in rehab, many addicts lose their initial impetus to quit, give up and return to taking drugs.
Although there are, according to the department of social development, 17 registered in-patient rehabilitation centres on its provincial list with a total of 596 beds, only De Novo Treatment Centre in Kraaifontein is free.
It has 100 beds for adults and 20 beds for young people under 18. A further three private rehabilitation centres are subsidised by the department, providing an extra 26 free beds for young people.
The department claims there are 40 additional free beds available to people under 18, but Weekend Argus could confirm only 26.
But with a total of only 160 free in-patient places in the province, addicts either have to spend months waiting for treatment or pay hefty fees for treatment lasting between three and eight weeks at one of the private centres.
This was simply out of reach for most families affected by drugs such as tik and heroin, said Mitchell's Plain Crisis Line trauma counsellor Geraldine Young.
"Parents often don't have the means to send their children to upmarket rehabs, so more affordable centres need to be opened," she said.
Referring people to De Novo was "a mission" as it took "forever" before they could be admitted, she said.
Young said when addicts wanted to kick their habit they needed help "there and then" while they were still committed to wanting to change.
Once they went back home and had to wait they became despondent and fell back into drug use, often disappearing before they could be admitted to De Novo.
In her experience, the process of admission could take up to five months, Young said.
Sanca social worker Merlyn Ramalaine said: "Many addicts need to rely on family financial support if they want to receive in-patient treatment at a rehab centre."
But, more often than not, such support was unavailable.
Ramalaine said in her experience it could take six weeks before clients referred by Sanca could be admitted to De Novo.
And attending a rehabilitation programme was no guarantee that an addict would remain clean.
About 55 percent of the addicts the Crisis Line dealt with, who had received in-patient treatment, returned to using drugs, said Young.
Part of the problem was that areas like Mitchell's Plain were "infested with drugs" and reformed addicts did not know how to cope when they returned to that environment.
Drugs had infiltrated all aspects of life in the area, to the extent that most of the people who came to the centre for counselling were battling with drug-related issues.
Although only 60 of the centre's current 193 clients were receiving counselling for drug abuse, the problems facing the remaining 133 were also drug or alcohol related, including domestic abuse, financial issues or other problems.
Young said it was also "disheartening" when children as young as 12 came for counselling for drug abuse, and the centre was seeing more girls who were addicted.
Tik and heroin were the two leading drugs of choice as they were easily available and cheap.
Meanwhile, demand for rehabilitation was showing a continual increase.
De Novo admission officer Russell Kinnear said 30 new male and "11 or 12" new female adult patients were admitted to the centre every Monday, while 16 new patients under 18 were admitted every four weeks.
Although Kinnear couldn't say how many people were on the waiting list, there had been a 40 percent increase in applications between last November and this month.
Private centres also noted an increase in addicts requiring rehabilitation.
Programme director at the Stepping Stones Addiction Treatment Centre in Kommetjie, Carry Bekker, said although they charged between R24 600 and R32 500 for treatment, there was a yearly increase in the number of addicts seeking help.
With space for 35 adults at any one time, there had been an annual increase of 10 percent in the number of patients, resulting in the centre remaining full "most of the year".
She said the government needed to provide more subsidised treatment centres in poorer areas.
Most of the Stepping Stones clients were from a high economic bracket but there was a problem for addicts whose circumstances were different.
Andre le Roux, programme manager of the Kenilworth Place Addiction Treatment Centre's in-patient unit, said there had been a 50 percent increase in applications to the 38-bed centre over the past year.
This increase was due to young people using tik, and "older people who used to use Mandrax predominantly now using tik".
Despite the increase in applications to the centre, he said, the waiting list was never longer than a week.
Tersia Coetzee, secretary of the Ramot Treatment Centre in Parow East, said there was an increase in admissions to the centre of six to 10 clients each year.
They currently had about 10 people on the waiting list - the equivalent of about a week's wait. - West Cape News