The World Health Organisation recommended opioid substitution drug treatment but because of the cost this therapy is not offered in the public health service
The low-grade form of heroin continues to strip the youth of their future and the young women living in a drug house in Ekurhuleni say the police do not take them seriously
The police and criminal justice system continue with a punitive approach to fight illegal drug trade, targeting poor black users in particular
It is not clear yet whether the Taliban government will clamp down on the illicit trade
Deputy Social Development Minister Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu tells the UN that the war on drugs has failed and is suggesting other options to tackle addiction
In eThekwini a successful scheme is helping homeless people, but some say the lack of drugs to feed their addictions means it is better to stay away
Here is a look at the opioid crisis and the tensions it has caused between China and the United States
Learners turn to anti-anxiety medication to manage stress but punishment remains the state’s primary intervention
Today, I’m a weed activist. I’ve seen the injustice of really, really good people getting fucked by really bad laws
Programmes letting people swap illegal highs for medications are popping up all over the country. Here’s how they work.
No one really knows how many people inject drugs in east and southern Africa and that’s a bigger problem than you think.
If you think shutting down needle exchange programmes will keep your city free of contaminated needles, think again.
Being an addict on the street is hard, the two men say. But trying to break the habit is the hardest
When people with diabetes inject insulin, we don’t see that as an addiction. So why is opioid substitution therapy considered one?
Find out how drug users banded together to use a simple injection to save thousands of lives.
This programme is saving heroin users on the streets of Tshwane, one clean needle at a time.
The Tshwane initiative could help reduce drug use, drug-related crime and new HIV infections.
Did you know that ‘bluetoothing’ puts you at risk of contracting multiple bloodborne diseases and it doesn’t even get you high?
Pictures of drug users injecting themselves with the blood of others have gone viral in SA.
Introduce harm-reduction and HIV programmes – especially for heroin users – before it’s too late.
After meeting a Tanzanian stowaway, Sean Christie gets caught up in a hair-raising heroin run from Dar es Salaam to Cape Town.
Ivory Park’s Operation Thiba Nyaope provides support for addicts and their affected families.
It began with doctors trying to help their patients but has turned into an epidemic of addiction. Ed Pilkington reports.
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/ 15 December 2011
Opium cultivation is back on the rise in Myanmar and Laos, with impoverished farmers lured by higher prices, according to a United Nations report.
Nearly a decade into the war in Afghanistan, opium poppies are still the major crop for many farmers and a big source of income for the Taliban.
The secret serpent of heroin lurks in the undergrowth of this tropical tourist spot.
Abdul Wadud (50) walked for two hours across Afghanistan’s remote northern mountains to hear a police commander give yet more promises of aid.
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/ 28 October 2008
An Afghan court sentenced a South African man to 16 years in prison for trying to board a plane at Kabul’s international airport with a bag of heroin.
A South African woman has been charged with smuggling almost two kilogrammes of heroin into Australia in her suitcase.
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/ 28 February 2002
The UN International Narcotics Control Board says that the number of people injecting heroin in SA has risen by 40% over the past three years.