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Cape Town - South Africa's Crystal Meth Capital

by Miriam Mannak | November 22, 2008 at 11:10 pm

3121 views | 25 Recommendations | 9 comments

Not only is Cape Town the city of Table Mountain, Robben Island, and some of the world's finest beaches - she is also South Africa's capital of Crystal Meth, an extremely dangerous and highly addictive chemical drugs that is locally known as Tik.*

It is understood that Tik in Cape Town is sometimes 10 times more prevalent then elsewhere in the country, and that city harbors 94% of all crystal meth addicts in the Western Cape Province.

According to the South African Medical Rsearch Council (MRC), there are more than 120 000 methamphetamine users in Cape Town and for every tik user receiving treatment in Cape Town, there were 100 were not.

Crystal Meth is a chemical substance, highly addictive, it affects several areas of the central nervous system and it very popular because it is cheap to buy and relatively easy to make in the comfort of your own kitchen.

Prolonged Tik use may lead to loss of weight, severe skin problems, risk of seizures, psychotic behavior and uncontrollable rage and violent behaviour.

As the drug is known to heighten your libibo, it poses another serious to one's threat. According to a new study by the MRC the incidence of HIV is increasing among Tik addicts. This is because the drug has been linked to an increase in risky sexual behaviour.

"Cape Town is the epicentre of two significant public health epidemics - methamphetamine abuse and increasing HIV incidence," Charles Parry, director of the MRC's alcohol and drug abuse research unit in a story published by the Cape Times. "There is a greater risk of methamphetamine users contracting and spreading HIV than other drug users."

*In 2007, I wrote a feature on Tik & Gangsterism in Lavender Hill, one of the townships in Cape Town. It was published in The Big Issue, but an online version can be found here.

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Uwe Paschen

at 23:26 on November 22nd, 2008

That is not an image any City would want to have. It is a nasty drug and causes great harm to our society destroying our youth for it is highly addictive and destructive as well.

I worked with some Young people that where in rehab and tried to kick the drug, I think it is one if not the worth drug I have ever seen ravage some once brain.

Good Post. Thanks for posting it here.

Miriam Mannak

at 23:33 on November 22nd, 2008

Thanks ... Yeah, it is awful.

The municipality knows all to well it has a problem on its hands, and has responded by opening more drug rehab centers, etc. Of course this is helpful, but the problem can only be solved when attention is paid to the 'whys'. Various reasons why Tik is so wide spread:

* It is cheap to make and highly profitable, and there is a lot of poverty.
* No chances in life - The majority of Tik users are below 20 years of age. They feel they do not have any prospects, so start using and dealing in Tik.
* Gangsterism: In Cape Town, the Tik market is mostly controlled by gangs.

And there are more reasons ...

Uwe Paschen

at 23:37 on November 22nd, 2008

the same could be said for other Cities around the Globe as well.

Miriam Mannak

at 23:39 on November 22nd, 2008

True - Tik is a global epidemic ..

Amy Judd

at 23:47 on November 22nd, 2008

I had no idea the number was so high - wow. It is a problem in a lot of cities, but you don't often think of places like South Africa being one of them - I think.

Fairbanks

at 11:36 on November 23rd, 2008

Is Cape Town considered wealthy? Lots of money sloshing around? Wealth attracts powerful drugs, in case somebody doesn't already know this.

Jordan Yerman

at 12:00 on November 23rd, 2008

It's not just the wealth in Cape Town (particularly in the Camps Bay suburb, where residents crossed the street to avoid me), but the velvet-rope nightlife culture, which is very drug-friendly. Rhodes House springs to mind, where everyone is way too pretty and flashes way too much cash.

makunde (not verified)

at 05:11 on June 8th, 2009

Tik is FAMILY destroyer, im talking of personal xperience.I had a wonderfull little sister b4, but after she got aqainted with this montress drug , all went downhill from there. to see problems on the streets or even read about it in the newspapers are nothing compared to dealing with the problems in your own living room.we have tried alot , but not evrything!,because i believe that there is HOPE to recover for all those people using the drug!!!!!i think "(maybe im wrong)" that the government is not doing enough to stop the manufacturing and selling of the drug we know as Tik. So it attracks all ,rich and poor,but it can be beaten,because i once was a user before , but luckily God opened my eyes and put it to quick stop untill today. So i dont know about the rest of the world.......but i do know that we as south africans are in a big big problem......!

hellenn

at 08:19 on July 29th, 2009

South Africa capital for crystal meth? Things don't look to good... I doubt that Cape Town is prepared to deal with the problem, no programs for addicts and no protection against drug dealers. Despite the fact this drugs is so dangerous it keeps spreading making it even harder to fight. Hellenn at Utah drug rehab