Sergeant Nicholus Mokwena explained to pupils that the drug industry is profit-driven and therefore drug dealers may use harmful substances to cut their products. “You can never be certain of what a drug contains,” he said.
“The best way to avoid consuming something toxic is to not take drugs at all.”
Mokwena said the drugs that high school pupils most use are uppers such as speed, cocaine and tik.
“While uppers may make an individual feel confident and energetic, depending on one’s personal response it can also make you feel anxious and can cause insomnia,” he explained.
“When you’re not on the drug, you’ll feel depressed and suicidal.”
Mokwena said other drugs that high school pupils may be exposed to and use are marijuana, heroin and mandrax, which are downers.
“Downers make you feel relaxed, but you can’t control how relaxed you feel,” he said.
“On downers you may find it hard to study, your relationships may suffer and if you’re on a drug like heroin, your body will eventually shut down.”
Mokwena and Tshepo Marakalala, of the Douglasdale Police Youth Desk mentioned the Safer Schools programme, which creates a direct link between the school and the police station through student body representatives. They said they would return to Fourways High soon to implement the programme.
The awareness talk also featured Kaya Malotana, an ex-Springbok rugby player who spoke about peer pressure. He also spoke about how sports had a positive effect on his life.
The biggest impact was made by the second guest speaker, who did not want to be named, since he is in a recovery programme. He hit home with the pupils because he broke the stigma around talking about drug addiction, and shattered the stereotype of what a drug addict looks like and where they come from.
The speaker explained that he was just like them, from a similar background and was popular and accomplished when he was at school. Yet, after leaving school, he struggled with drug addiction and eventually had to face the reality of being a drug addict head-on and get into recovery.
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