UPDATE: Wiz grows popular among learners
According to the Wentworth Victim Friendly Centre, which deals with learners on drugs, of every 20 children, 18 of them have either tried or are using Wiz as they do not consider it a drug, but herbs.
“It’s going to be a big problem because this is just the beginning. It’s going to be like how lennozine and xynex came as something small and then became a pandemic in the community.”
These were the chilling predictions made by Sister Renette Roskruge about the latest synthetic drug fad called Wiz. Sister Roskruge, who is based at the Gateway Clinic in Wentworth Hospital, said she has interacted with a lot of school children suspected to be on the synthetic drug during their drug testing.
“There’s a lot of shift now towards Wiz because it is like a herbal plant which is actually meant for its aroma and it is not for human consumption or inhalation. They shifted away from the ‘normal’ things that the high school learners used to use like codeine-laced cough syrup and xynex because it makes them high and not get into trouble because the results of the drug screen come back negative unlike the other drugs where tests come back positive,” she said.
According to the Wentworth Victim Friendly Centre, which deals with learners on drugs, of every 20 children, 18 of them have either tried or are using Wiz as they do not consider it a drug but herbs.
Sister Roskruge said she bought the synthetic drug to have a closer inspection and while the use of it is gaining traction on the streets, her biggest concern is the cheaper joints sold to school children.
“My fear now is that Wiz is also being sold on the streets in small joints to make it affordable because R80 for a school-going child is a bit much and my biggest concern is what is included in the joint for the seller on the street to make extra money, is there an additive put into the Wiz? But my suspicions are that they have added something else in it,” she said.
A principal of a high school in Merebank, who wished to keep his identity and name of the school confidential, said they have a case of a learner using Wiz but it was out of school and he was informed by the learner’s parents.
“We have children who are going for counselling at the anti-drug forum at Wentworth Hospital and the Victim Friendly Centre. As far as the incident of Wiz, we brought it to the attention of our learners and made it clear to them that this so-called drug is not made for human consumption, it is meant to calm animals and if they are taking this, they are risking their health,” he said.
Sister Roskruge added that because the drug cannot be detected in the system of a user, they cannot be expelled from school or be held accountable for their actions. She had urged anti-drug forums and the minister of health to intervene.
“I have not researched the side effects to the consumption of Wiz but I do know from the children who have come to the clinic that the high of it lasts a little while and others say it makes them blackout and suffer memory loss. I’ve physically taken Wiz smokers from my community and asked them to do drug screenings to confirm if it does indeed come back negative. And yes, it cannot be excreted in the urine, it’s just not there,” she said.
Also READ: Synthetic drug user details own experience
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