Sanca campaigns to reduce substance dependency

Last year saw a marked increase in South Africans seeking alcohol, cannabis, methamphetamine and nayope treatment, with heroin treatment admissions accounting for 18% of all admissions nationwide.

This is according to the SA Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use (Sacendu), which collects substance use data from Sanca and other bodies from around the country.

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More than 91 000 people were treated by Sanca (SA National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence) over the last eight years, whose market is the youth population, with the highest age group treated being 22 – 35 year olds (46%) and the second-highest being 14 – 17 year olds (20.5%).

There has been a 2% increase in children aged between 9 and 13 years old to Sanca centres.

With this in mind, Sanca is running its annual Kick Your Habit campaign from 24 – 30 June.

The idea is for participants to kick whatever habit they have for one week so they can empathise with those quitting serious substance abuse.

The campaign aligns with UNODC’s (UN Office on Drugs and Crime) International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on 26 June.

Kick Your Habit has been running for six years and is Sanca’s way to reduce stigma associated with people who use/misuse substances by ‘walking a mile in their shoes’.

Take part

The campaign seeks to spread awareness through experience, challenging people in our communities and across the country to give up one ‘thing’ for a week and experience, albeit briefly, what a substance dependent might go through in treatment.

Experience leads to education, which is the campaign’s ultimate goal.

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