Cannabis Is Helping Heroin Users Withdraw And Stay Clean In This South African Harm Reduction Center
Niko Vorobyov, a journalist and author of the book “Dopeworld” traveled to 15 countries on five continents to look at how the issue of illicit drugs “has shaped the entire world: wars, scandals, coups, revolution.” During his time in South Africa, he visited a harm reduction center in Durban where he saw first hand how cannabis was helping ease the withdrawal symptoms of heroin addiction.
In his article for Leafie, Vorobyov tells the story of Durban’s Bellhaven Harm Reduction Center where a sign on the wall expresses a dire message: “The dead don’t recover.” Durban, South Africa’s third-largest city, is also considered the country’s heroin capital.
Failing As A Human Race
Msizi Ngubane, a former addict who received treatment at Bellhaven and who now works at the center as a mentor, explains the facility’s principles beginning with the fact that it is not a traditional rehab where you get “clean.” It also helps people live their best and healthiest life. Ngubane, who came to Bellhaven to get methadone, also got the help he needed to get his life back on track, and now he is returning the favor by helping people who are addicted and unsure of how to approach the services the facility offers.
“In the townships, you don’t look for drugs, the drugs look for you,” Ngubane told Vorobyov. “They’re everywhere. You didn’t choose to be in that environment, your family was broke to stay in that place. And you will hear grown-ups saying, ‘Drugs were not there in our times, we never smoked drugs!’ I know, that’s why you never smoked it. But the alcohol was there, and that’s why you drank it!!”
Ngubane shared the horrific treatment of drug addicts. “They’re gonna beat you and nobody’s gonna care,” he said. “You’re a drug addict, so you’re supposed to be beaten, they say. Yesterday someone said at a meeting: ‘I saw them hitting someone, but they were just hitting a pariah…That means we have failed as a human race.”
Heroin Cheaper Than Alcohol
Professor Monique Marks, the founding director of …