Durban - AS the world commemorates International Substance Abuse Awareness Day on Saturday KwaZulu-Natal’s pioneers of a pilot project, aimed at helping heroin drug users, have called on the private sector and the government for funding.
The project, currently run at the Bellhaven Memorial Centre, in Durban, is the first of its kind in South Africa – to enable people who were drug users to lead normal lives, as one needed only one dose of methadone in 24 hours.
The project, which began during the lockdown, administers methadone to heroin users, as an opioid substitution.
Opioids are drugs that act on the nervous system to relieve pain.
Professor Monique Marks, from the centre, said that while they had good relations with the government, they struggled to get funding.
She said through this programme, they were able to get some patients to completely abstain from using drugs, while – with others – there was a significant reduction in drug dependency.
“One needs about a 10 to 15ml dosage of methadone in a day. When one uses methadone, they are able to live a normal, healthy and productive lifestyle,” she said.
The Centre was currently assisting 200 people daily.
Marks said methadone was a legal and regulated medication, with efficacy. She explained that it has been used since the 1960s, as a safe and effective medication for assisting with withdrawal from heroin and for longer term maintenance for people who have been heroin users, but who have opted to abstain from heroin use or to radically reduce its use.
While methadone does not create the same “high” as heroin, it works the same way on the opioid receptors as heroin does.
Heroin comes in many forms and, in South Africa, at present, it was most widely used on the streets in the form of whoonga, sugars or nyaope.
This, Marks said, prevented them from buying methadone at cheaper rates.
In order to deal with financial shortages, she said, they intended to facilitate a series of invitations of small groups of business people to visit Bellhaven, followed by focus groups to gather feedback.
The centre currently required R200 000 monthly to stay afloat.
Marks said, in KwaZulu-Natal, the department was supportive of the programme.
“A number of hospitals have contacted me, especially psychiatrists and psychologists, asking for more information,” said Marks.
The project had yielded positive results and they were currently discussing the possibility, with the national department, of adding methadone to the essential medicines list.
The project not only included the administering of methadone, but also entailed tracking their changing quality of life. The indicators used in this tracking were the reintegration of beneficiaries with their families, and watching their improvement in health.
Social development MEC said her department were mandated to develop programmes and support initiatives aimed at the prevention of substance abuse.
“The appeal of designer drugs, such as whoonga, incika and prescribed medications, such as xanax, can lead to a variety of social ills impacting on the health, behaviour and state of mind, particularly the youth – which places them at risk of developing life-threatening illnesses later in life” she said.
She warned that the use of drugs altered the mind and the behaviour of the individual, which results in non-adherence to Covid-19 regulations.
When the person is under the influence, they neglect to protect themselves and those around them.
“We encourage the public to fight against drugs, stay safe, and seek help. The department is available to provide services to those who need it,” she concluded.
Daily News