Press Gives Credibility to Whoonga Rumours

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.