In Durban, during 2010, rumours of a deadly new concoction
of drugs , called “whoonga” started appearing in the press. Early reports
stated that anti-retrovirals were the
main ingredient. These drugs, after years of HIV-denialism, were in the process
of being distributed in state hospitals and clinics across the country. This ‘new’ drug was affordable and accessible
to people living on the streets, and it quickly replaced glue as the drug of
choice for the city’s homeless. Whoonga was linked to a wave of crime against
people living with HIV. Reports of people being robbed for their HIV medication
became common.
It later turned out that whoonga is just another name for
‘sugars’, a low grade, cheap form of heroin. (see Whoonga whammy. IOL.
28/11/2010). Baking soda, over the counter medication, soap powder and even rat poison are common ingredients in
whoonga. In my using days I have witnessed brown heroin being cut with cocoa
powder, and Grandpa headache powder being used in white heroin, after an addict
brought a stolen batch to swop for a fix. Basically whatever the dealer can lay
their hands on that looks like heroin will go into the mix. No doubt HIV medications have been used as a cutting agent, not because of their highly debatable ability to make people
high, but because they are freely available.
This is an example of how the media can turn a rumour into
reality, where people reading reports and hearing rumours of HIV medication being
used as a drug, will then want to try it.
There are many occasions when, I as a former addict, read
reports in the press that are obviously ridiculous and uninformed to anyone who
knows anything about drugs.
The latest is the controversy around ‘bluetoothing’. Press
reports state that people who inject are using their own blood to get others
high. A video claiming to show this practice (WATCH: Addicts draws blood from
high friend and injects himself. Herald. 1/ 2 /2017) shows nothing of the sort.
If you look closely the same user is injecting himself multiple times in an
attempt to find a vein. He then pulls
blood into the syringe which allows in residue in the syringe to mix before
injecting, a practise known as ‘flashblood”. Consider taking around 10 milligrams of heroin
and dissolving it in around 5 litres of liquid, and then injecting a small
amount of this substance. The effect
would be non-existent. Yet we are led to believe people are engaging
en masse in this practice. No doubt there are those who try it, but they do so because they believe the rumours and
press reports.
Another example are the many reports of rape by whoonga
addicts ( one example: Whoonga teen raping younger kids. IOL. 30/5/2015). This
is highly unlikely. As any heroin user
knows, the drug makes one completely uninterested, and unable physically
to engage, in sexual activity.
I’m not knocking all journalists here, some go to great
lengths to uncover the truth. There is however a trend, either through
laziness, or deliberate intent to portray
addicts as irrational, criminal, and
drug crazed individuals. These journalists need to take time educate themselves
about the issues they are writing about, instead of passing on rumours and
false news. This kind of sensationalist reporting stigmatises addicts, hypes the fear around drugs and justifies the continuation
of the war on drugs.
