Synthetic drug user details own experience

A FORMER synthetic drug user detailed his experience of smoking a substance similar to Wiz, a herb intended to be used as an aroma but has since been making headlines as school children have found an alternative use for it. The product’s simple packaging clearly states that it is not for human consumption but for emitting “a pleasant and very relaxing smoke when burned”.

In the wake of this drug sensation, to uncover the possible psycho-effects that the drug has, the SUN spoke to a man who had tried the substance. The man, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said although he tried the synthetic drug four years ago when he was 17-years-old, he can still vividly recall every detail of the effects.

“I started feeling like I was melting, I couldn’t stop anything and it wasn’t the good kind because it went into a bad trip. I started to fall over and couldn’t stop myself. My mind was thinking about 20 million things at once, about an argument that happened 10 years, 10 months and 10 minutes ago. It’s really bad, it wasn’t a good experience. I don’t know why people would smoke it,” he said.

According to him, the sensation lasts between 15 minutes to half an hour depending on how much is smoked. He said tried it out with a friend at school.

“Smoking it also depends on your body’s chemical balance – some people hallucinate, others are fine. You usually need just two drags off a joint. I smoked it while I was in school, which was a bad idea.

“I had two just drags, my friend had three and he was worse off than I was. While I was on it, I started drooling uncontrollably and it fell onto the seat of the car.”

“My friend walked around the car and how he explained it to me was, he could hear music playing softly pulling in him and then pushing out repeatedly and every push out was more intense and then he fell into a spasm and starting kicking the car and running around and as I saw that, I thought there police were there but they weren’t,” he recalled

Community activist Yusuf Vawda said their immediate response upon the drug’s discovery was to inform parents and educate learners about the negative effects. He said that the product was available country-wide and that an investigation into the product’s ingredients was underway and they await their findings.

“We are now looking at other ways of working with the anti-drug forums and NGOs to set up workshops in the community to educate parents and children about these substances that are readily available.”

“We want them to take precautions in advance with this drug that can be bought legally over the counter,” he said.

Vawda added that some shops have taken the product off their shelves.

Provincial spokesperson for police Colonel Thembeka Mbele said crime intelligence has been tasked to investigate this issue further.

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