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Recovering Drug Abusers cry for Help
By Uyapo Majahana - @uyapomajax (Twitter)18 June 2020
Recovering drug abusers say they need support from family and friends if they are to successfully fight against addiction.
Speaking at this year’s International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking commemorations at South African National Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence (SANCA) offices in Johannesburg last month, *Mathias, a recovering drug abuser said there was a need to change the stereotypes against recovering addicts.
“People tend to think that an addict likes being an addict, but that is not true. Of course when you get started, it is usually experimental and it seems exciting and fun. But then the fun stops when you can no longer do without the substance you are using.
“When this happened to me, I lost my family and friends. I lost everyone’s trust and no one wanted to be around me. I couldn’t hold on to a job, so I ended up on the streets for six years. Even though I wanted to change and to come out of that situation, it was just hard. I had been to rehab many times before, but I just could not get it right. Fortunately, this time around I had the support of people around me,” he said
*Nelson, another recovering drug and alcohol addict said he was grateful for fellow recovering drug users he now calls friends as they have helped him in the journey towards recovery.
“I will be honest with you, here I have met people that have become closer to me than my own family, people that I treasure and love sincerely. Since we have addiction as the common demon we are fighting, we understand each other more. Unlike my family, they understand that my problem is like a disease and that I am doing the best I can to overcome it. When I am down, my friends can see that I am down and they do what they can to cheer me up,” he said.
He also expressed his gratitude to the organization that has taught him how to love and forgive himself as well as other people.
“Thinking about the fact that today I am almost seven months clean makes my heart swell with joy and confidence. I am thankful to the social workers at SANCA for opening up their loving hearts and for showing us the way out of the mess we had found ourselves tangled up in,” he said.
“I am very thankful to this place. If it was not for it, I would still be doing what I was doing. I was half-way dead and my grave was already dug, ready for me to just fall into it and be buried. Now I am proud to say that I now know things about myself that I did not know before. Now I know about how to love and forgive myself. I have also been taught about letting go of grudges because it is that hatred that keeps me behind in my life,” he added.
“Further than that, I look forward to giving back the wealth of knowledge that has been freely given to me to other people who are in the same situation as I was months ago. I just want to encourage them and tell them that they too can do it,” he concluded.
The United Nations General Assembly in 1987 decided to observe 26 June as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking as an expression of its determination to strengthen action and cooperation to achieve the goal of an international society free of drug abuse.
According to the World Health Organization, drug consumption in South Africa is twice the world norm, with 15% of South Africa’s population estimated to have a drug problem. Alcohol is the primary drug of abuse in South Africa, and 80% of male youth deaths in the country are alcohol-related. Other popular drugs include marijuana, mandrax (Methaqualone), ecstacy, cocaine, crack, Methamphetamine (Tik) and heroine.
*= Not their real names
