Coming up on
3rd Degree:
Episode: Teen Drug Abuse
Broadcast date: 30 September 2008
Channel: e.tv
Repeated: 21h00 on the eNews Channel
Teen substance abuse is spiralling in South Africa. An alarming number of adolescents are dependent on alcohol or on illegal drugs such as ecstasy, cat, mandrax or heroin. Alarmingly, almost 20% of those landing up in drug rehab centers are under 21.
Samantha Kruger’s drug nightmare began at the age of 15. She dropped out of Standard 6 and got lost on the party circuit where she started taking acid, ecstasy, dagga and cocaine.
3rd Degree meets up with her, fresh out of rehab. She gives a candid account of her nightmarish former life and her journey back from hell.
Hidden cameras also expose how easy it is for under-age partygoers to buy alcohol in bars and clubs. 3rd Degree's team of teens also manage to buy drugs including tik, cocaine and heroin with ease.
Drugs such as cocaine, tik, ecstasy and heroin arrive in South Africa and are then shipped to other parts of the world. These drugs have replaced alcohol and dagga as the experimental, gateway drugs traditionally used by young South Africans. As a result, youth addiction is growing and the victims of substance abuse are increasingly younger.
But the availability of drugs is not the only problem. Drug counsellors told us that kids are now being hired by dealers to sell drugs in schools.
South Africa is earning a reputation as a drunk and drugged nation.