Posts
South African HIV/AIDS experts and law enforcement personnel are closely monitoring "whoonga," a street drug laced with crushed tablets of the HIV drug efavirenz, or Stocrin. Whoonga is a highly addictive marijuana cocktail that can include rat poison and other cheap substances. Police say boosting it with the HIV drug has little effect, but street users believe it amplifies whoonga's hallucinogenic properties. "It is a relatively new drug that began to surface a few months ago and fortunately for now, is confined to a few new areas," said Vish Naidoo, a spokesperson for the national police agency. Antiretroviral (ARV)-laced doses of whoonga sell for $2-$3 a hit.
As the government continues efforts to make ARVs more widely available to the millions of HIV/AIDS patients who need them, authorities are cracking down on drug gangs, tightening security for ARV supplies, and alerting patients to the risk of theft. While officials believe they can contain whoonga's reach, some patients and clinics in townships in eastern KwaZulu-Natal already have been robbed of their ARVs.
Ntombizonke Ndlovu, a provincial official with the HIV/AIDS advocacy group Treatment Action Campaign, said "people as young as 13, 14, and 15" are "getting mixed up in this whoonga thing. Crime is growing like crazy."
Crime victims have mostly remained silent, fearing that by reporting thefts they will be exposed as being HIV-positive. Despite some 5.7 million people having HIV/AIDS in South Africa's population of 49 million, the disease remains heavily stigmatized.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
