Phase 2 Substance Abuse Support group work shop

The workshop which was free and open to all community members, home based care workers, social workers was organized by SADAG(South African Depression And Anxiety Group)
The workshop was aimed at informing community members about the dangers of substances and raising awareness about substance abuse
The workshop covered the following topics: substance abuse problems, substance abuse dependence, reasons why people use substances, how to identify substance Abuse problems, how to help a loved one or person with a substance abuse problem, treatment options and how support groups can help.

The talk of Substance Abuse was given by Jubs Ndhlovu a councillor from SADAG she gave a good talk on Substance abuse telling us about the most popular substance that gets used and can you believe sometimes mostly by school going children substances being used “Dagga”and Nyaope?I asked her what Nyaope was and she answered me,”Nyaope is a mixture of heroin and dagga mixed with other substances like Sugar,Baby powder,Bicarbonate of Soda,washing powder,pool cleaner and rat poison. She said it usually gets injected into the system or smoked. Nyaope gets called different names in different areas:Nyaope in Gauteng,Sugars/Ungah in KwaZulu Natal,Ungah in the Western Cape,Pinch in Limpopo and Mpumalanga this drug is also called Plazana,Kwape,H and Thai.

And what would the side effects be of Nyaope,I asked?,she listed it as follows-The harmful effects of drugs gradually becomes visible after prolonged use. The short term effects of the drugs are often hidden and confused with a sense of sleeplessness or irritability .Most of the time ,parents are the last to know about their child’s drug problem. After explaining to us what Nyaope is she explained to us what people may have who takes Nyaope?

Infections of the blood,heart skin,liver and kidneys. People may develop breathing problems,muscle and bone pain,vomiting and diarrhoea. Extreme weightless a shaking body and sweating these are just a few to mention when taking Nyaope as a substance.

Jubs ended off by telling us how we can help people taking Nyaope.The first thing is to Stay Calm and get help,never talk to someone if they are still high wait until the drug has worn off. Explain why you are worried,Be honest,tell the truth!

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Posted: November 26th 2012 11:38