Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian
drug addictionlatest news & developments
Complex organised crime networks are fuelling a health crisis that is getting worse and addiction treatment isn’t keeping up.

Here’s how to make drug addiction a health issue, not a criminal one

Experts say South Africa’s contradictory approach to drugs — treating addiction as both a disease and a crime — is fuelling a worsening crisis in places like Westbury, where…

A number of new entrants into South Africa’s political scene want the state to treat drug addiction as a public health issue rather than a criminal justice one

New parties call for addiction to be treated as a public health concern, rather than just a crime

Focus policing on drug cartels and not the users, say newcomers to the political space, identifying the need for rehabilitation programmes

Nightmares in Dreamland

It took years for parents to speak up and form communities for treatment… because it was “shameful” to have your children hooked on heroin

Whoever gets to serve in these critical positions, whoever gets to put up their hand to serve on the board, must never lose sight of how important an institution NSFAS is. (John McCann/M&G)

Are universities pathologising student issues?

Conventional therapy is relied on when social and peer-to-peer interventions may be the answer

Needle and syringe exchange programme

Her office is in the streets

COSUP’s interventions are all part of a harm reduction approach to substance use

The annual drug death statistics released in July by the Scottish records office show that multiple substance abuse is to blame in the vast majority of victims’ cases.(AFP)

Glasgow eye of storm as drug deaths spiral in Scotland

Scotland’s biggest city, is the epicentre of a substance abuse crisis, which saw an unprecedented 1187 drug-related deaths last year

Programmes letting people swap illegal highs for medications are popping up all over the country. Here’s how they work.

Heroin withdrawals: Could this drug be the answer?

Programmes letting people swap illegal highs for medications are popping up all over the country. Here’s how they work.

(John McCann)

A poison by any other name

It is not just the person who drinks alcohol in excess who is harmed; the family suffers too

(Graphic: John McCann/M&G)

Want to quit smoking? Breathe

Puffing away on nicotine is unhealthy and socially no longer acceptable, but people do struggle to give it up

Editorial: It’s dangerous to other foreigners (Photo Archive)

Letters to the editor: October 6 to 12 2017

Readers write in about the auditor witch-hunt, and drug policy

Marko — SOL Oupa Nkosi

#SliceOfLife: No one cares if a drug user dies

”Most drugs users have a pauper’s burial. On very rare occasions the family buries them.”

Many solutions have been proposed around the world, and one of them is to treat drug abuse as a crime but as a health crisis.

‘Bluetoothing’: The drug myth that fooled a nation?

Outreach workers say the practice making headlines isn’t as widespread as it’s been made out to be as they rush to prevent more from trying it.

Is codeine Africa’s drug of choice?

Common cough, flu and pain medicines can be addictive. Codeine addiction is an increasingly well-known problem in South Africa.

Nyaope addiction tests a community’s spirit

Addicts try and try again to break the habit but, with no real prospects, they can’t win the battle.

Neymar was set to smash the previous transfer record.

‘No home, no money, no medicine – but who cares? I don’t exist’

Introduce harm-reduction and HIV programmes – especially for heroin users – before it’s too late.

Injecting drug users need access to safe needle exchanges and opiate substitution programmes.

Addicted to drug addiction memoirs

The first instalment of our drug edition looks at books that are easy to get hooked on – if you’re into misery, redemption and excruciating honesty.

Tools of the trade: Evidence of Sam Maseko’s addiction. His mother Audrey at least knows where Sam is now; he used to wander around and steal.

We need to talk about caving in to nyaope

Ivory Park’s Operation Thiba Nyaope provides support for addicts and their affected families.

Tourists walk in Stone Town past the spot where two young British women suffered an acid attack on the Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar.

Life’s precipice puts addiction into perspective

Three drug addicts tell their stories of devastation, desperation and, finally, the long road to recovery.

Dirty war on drugs in Cape Town

You push against the tide by taking down one dealer at a time – just mind the hell hounds and small children.

Pain of getting hooked on ‘hillbilly heroin’ crushes developed world

It began with doctors trying to help their patients but has turned into an epidemic of addiction. Ed Pilkington reports.