launch of Stikland Detox Unit
15 June 2006
On the eve of Youth Month as we prepare to commemorate 30 years since the
student uprising in 1976, it is significant that we are gathered here at the
Stikland Hospital to open this public sector Detoxification Unit. This unit is
meant to play a critical role in the ongoing and protracted battle against
teenage and adolescent drug abuse in the province.
We owe it to the youth of 1976, of 1980, 1985 and every generation of young
people who sacrificed themselves that we may today be free that we assist the
youth of today to live fully free and to anticipate the future not with the
dread of poverty, unemployment and addiction but with the excitement of those
who are prepared for the future.
It is indeed those who cannot see the future those who are not certain about
tomorrow who live only for today, who seek instant gratification, who takes
shortcuts, who make choices that jeopardise tomorrow and are therefore not
fortified against nihilism. It is such young people who fall victim to diseases
like HIV and AIDS, who fall victim to various substances, teenage pregnancies,
and disastrous subject choices at school. That such youth are often trapped in
poverty, surrounded by gangsterism, reared in dysfunctional families and
communities and exposed daily to violence, mean that their battles are harder
and their needs are greater and more worthy of our support.
Government is fully aware of the scale and depth of the problem confronting
the Western Cape. The Medical Research Council (MRC) has recently shared with
us the latest research on substance abuse and the youth. I select a few
indicators:
* 25 percent of those in drug treatment centres are under 20 years old;
* one in five HIV patients met the criteria for alcohol abuse or substance
dependence;
* such dependence is also central to other problems such as risky sex,
family violence and academic failure;
* cannabis and mandrax is still the most common illicit drug, but since
2005, methamphetamine or tik has become the primary substance of abuse;
* almost six out of every 10 people arrested in 200, tested positive for an
illegal drug, with the figure rising for crimes such as housebreaking; and
* 80 percent of teenage drinkers have been drunk at least once.
I mention these facts to you not because you are familiar with them but so
that you know that I know and because knowledge is the beginning of action. It
is too early to proclaim that we are winning. In fact we are only at the start
of putting in place a Drug Master Plan (DMP).
I believe that it is appropriate that we launch this plan on the eve of 16
June as part of our commemoration of the student and youth uprisings of 1976.
Throughout the country young people registered their opposition, at first to
the imposition of Afrikaans then to Bantu Education then to the police
brutality and then to the apartheid system itself. And as the one generation of
youth followed the other they crystallised a vision of a new society, a
non-racial one, a humane one, a gentle one. They also began to articulate,
however flaringly, the idea that to emerge with a humane society, the struggle
itself has to be conducted in that humane way, never repeating the racism that
they wanted to overthrow, never stooping to brutality that confronted them and
never reaching levels of despair and nihilism that was inherent in the
apartheid system.
We owe it to them that we must keep our society free of any inhumanity,
brutality, despair and nihilism, whether they emerge from any neglect of our
human rights or whether they emerge from the neglect of our young people. When
I delivered the State of the Province address in February 2006, the provincial
government reflected on the events 30 years ago and the sacrifices of the youth
that we commemorate this year. We asked the question; âhow can we remember the
youth today, so that we realise the principles, values and vision for which the
youth sacrificed 30 years ago? What do we do beyond the memorial service, the
rally, the reflection?â
We realised that the youth of the 70s, the 80s and the early 1990s were not
the lost generations because they knew they were firmly on their way to freedom
and democracy. The lost youth may well be those young people who in freedom and
democracy find themselves locked in poverty and unemployment, young people who
in desperation and hopelessness succumb to the temptations of gangsterism,
crime, drugs and sexually transmitted diseases.
It was in this context that the provincial government of the Western Cape
decided that the best tribute to pay to Hector Petersen, Xolile Moise,
Christopher Truter and every other young person who died, so that we might be
free, is to say Siyabulela, ons dank julle. We thank you in the most concrete
and practical way possible.
Every member of this government of this government was tasked to respond to
some of the most pressing problems confronting the youth by getting their
departments to deliver in the spirit of siyabulela.
Minister Pierre Uys today has delivered on one of the most important
components in the fight against substance abuse. He was tasked with the
Department of Health to broaden the definition of mental health and therefore
the use of health facilities to respond to the very real challenge of drugs in
our society, especially amongst the youth. I thank him and the Department for
showing that government works, that it delivers and that it is stepping outside
of silos and is capable of responding to complex challenges in comprehensive,
integrated and partnership driven ways.
The fight against substance abuse has to involve a plan that can cover the
conveyor belt of substance abuse:
* We must reduce demand by preventing young people from experimenting with
drugs and becoming addicted through awareness and healthy living alternatives.
The reintroduction of school sport and making it compulsory is one example of
our interventions.
* We must reduce supply by acting harshly against those who sell drugs in
our communities and those who supply them through global cartels. Our
additional police, the high flyers programmes and the use of Prevention of
Organised Crime Act (POCA) and tax laws are proving successful, except where
witnesses fear for their safety.
* We must rehabilitate those addicted so that they can get out of the spiral
and don't fall deeper into crime to feed their addiction.
To kick-start the implementation of this plan we have significantly
increased our anti drug budget from R6,7 million in 2005 to R15 million in this
year. It is too early to feel the effects, but this is a sign of our
commitment, an indication that the war is on and an investment that will grow
and yield its results in the medium term.
The impact of this financial investment will significantly increase the
treatment capacity of the public sector which currently stands at just under
300 patients. This should grow now so that the state can handle those who want
rehabilitation but cannot afford the private sector.
R10 million will now be available to support community based organisations
in the fight against drugs and government will use this leverage to make sure
that such organisations will use their resources where the needs are most. Of
this money, R63 000 will be used for youth prevention campaigns.
Using police statistics we have been able to identify the 10 worst affected
drug areas in the province. The scale of the challenge is such that traditional
methods of rehabilitation will not suffice. We need to shift from narrow
impatient care to community based care. We are working through an appropriate
model with the United Nations (United Nations) agency on drugs, but what we do
know is that it has to be multi sectoral and must be based on the training of
community members as rehab workers. 300 volunteers are being trained in the 10
areas.
To support such community initiatives we must increase our network of in
patient beds so that detoxification and other processes can occur. For those
who have made the serious choice for rehabilitation, detoxification is the
important starting point but is proving to be a very serious bottleneck given
the lack of facilities and the costs related to this in the private sector.
Detoxification for most drugs and alcohol addiction can be done on an
outpatient basis. To this end we are investing R2 million to open 60 such beds
free to those who have made the serious choice for rehabilitation.
Stikland will respond to the need for opiate detoxification, initially
availing 10 beds but able to shift to 20 if needed. I believe the fight against
substance abuse is on. It is taking shape. It is being funded. All departments
are playing their role. It is a long haul but in the spirit of 1976, we believe
we will win.
Enquiries:
Shado Twala
Cell: 083 640 6771
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Western Cape Provincial Government
15 June 2006
Source: Western Cape Provincial Government (http://www.capegateway.gov.za/)
