Anti Drug Alliance’s chief executive Quinton van Kerk spoke to Radio Islam’s Moulana Sulaimaan Ravat about the scourge that is plaguing society. Van Kerk said drugs are just part of the social ill that people face. “It’s alcohol, it’s gambling, it’s drugs, it’s porn. There is a whole lot of stuff,” said van Kerk.
Van Kerk said that in its Anti Drug Alliance’s annual survey, over 57 809 people were polled through online survey’s, e-mail, phone calls and social media portals. The results were shocking!
Just over a third of the respondents-34% admitted to taking drugs themselves. The majority of users favoured dagga (32%) followed by cocaine, cat and LSD. The results also indicate that most users spent up to R200 a month on drugs, 13% spent up to R3000 and 2% spent up to R10 000. Van Kerk said the survey indicates that drugs are on the on the increase. “What we have to worry about is marijuana. That’s a big growth point at the moment and drugs such as cat and tik which has seen just over an 80% increase on last year’s statistics,” said Van Kerk.
Asked by Moulana Ravat what the drug situation in Lenasia is like, Van Kerk said most Indian communities are suffering very badly at the moment. “Lenasia seems to be one of the hardest hit. I think it’s just because of its placing. It’s very close to Johannesburg, there is a lot happening. The problem is the proliferation of drugs is so massive that so often we don’t often realize how hard it hits the smaller communities,” added Van Kerk. He said in their findings Lenasia formed a quite a large percentage of the survey.
Van Kerk was stumped for the reason as to why Lenasia has been hit so hard by drugs. However he did emphasize that drugs are so widely available and so many people are taking drugs that it’s difficult to ask what the reason was for taking drugs. He said it could be the result of stress and family problems and so many other circumstances, and what it boils down to is that it so prolifering and that children will experiment because that is what children do and they get hooked.
Van Kerk said the alliance received about 1800 calls a month through their hotline and through various other mediums. He said in the last year there has been a significant increase in calls from people in Lenasia and Laudium, however Lenasia remained a growth point and hotspot for drugs. Van Kerk reiterated that drugs knows no age and indicated the survey revealed the youngest drug user was just 16 years old and the oldest about 60 years old!
Van Kerk added that as long as there is a need or demand for drugs there will be dealers that would meet that demand hence the mushrooming of so many dealers. Removing a dealer only creates the gap for another dealer to take his place. “If you take one (dealer) out of the equation there is somebody else to replace him. And I think we should stop focusing on these guys because they are simply supplying a demand, we must focus on the actual problem of the people that are using it,” said Van Kerk.
The Anti Drug Alliance is group of likeminded people that have grouped together in the fight against drug addiction.
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