Kimberley - Africans are less likely than their international peers to seek treatment for drug addiction, an expert told the national substance abuse treatment symposium in Kimberley on Wednesday.
“According to Mr Jason Eligh of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, only one in 18 people who use drugs in Africa seek treatment, opposed to the world average of one in six,” social development spokeswoman Lumka Oliphant said in a statement.
The chairman of the Central Drug Authority, Mogotsi Kalaeamodimo, told the symposium it was important to dispel the stigma associated with drug addiction treatment.
The department of social development and the Authority organised the symposium to discuss and develop methods for treating people with drug and alcohol addiction.
The department advocated family-based programmes to deal with social problems, including substance abuse, and educating communities about drugs.
Sapa