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Whoonga

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Whoonga (or wonga) and nyaope are South African street names for heroin.[1] [2][3][4]

Heroin came into widespread use in South Africa in 2009[5] but the epidemic of heroin addiction has escalated since 2013 [6] as prices have fallen rapidly in recent years.[7]

Usage

Heroin generates intense feelings of euphoria, deep contentment, and relaxation. It also reduces appetite. Effects of whoonga may last two to four hours.[8] The drug is usually smoked with cannabis in the form of a joint,[9] but it may be injected intravenously.[10]

Adverse effects

The effects of whoonga typically wear off in 6 to 24 hours, followed by the onset of unpleasant side-effects.[9] These include stomach cramps, backaches, sweating, chills, anxiety, restlessness, depression, nausea, and diarrhea.[9] More serious side-effects include internal bleeding, stomach ulcers, and potentially death.[11]

Urban Legends

South African media and some academics have published many stories about 'Whoonga' as fact that have later been shown to be urban legends. Among others these include the following:

Bluetoothing

In early 2017, local media claimed that users shared the drug-induced high through small blood transfusions, a practice supposedly called "bluetoothing" (from the Bluetooth wireless technology). The claim was untrue: the practice is virtually unheard-of on the street[12] and physiologically could not achieve the claimed effect.[13]

Claims of anti-retroviral and other content such as rat poison

Sensationalist media articles have often claimed that whoonga is uniquely South African drug containing ingredients such as rat poison, anti-retroviral medication and materials gleaned from the cathode tubes in stolen flat screen televisions.[14][15][16] .[17] However scientific laboratory studies have shown these claims to be urban legends, and that 'whoonga' and 'nyapoe' are in fact simply heroin.[18][19] [20][21] According to researcher Jesse Copleyn it "has been shown "that media accounts that frame nyaope as a new and exotic drug are often misleading, and have obscured the fact that South Africa simply has a major heroin crisis".[22]

According to some experts of the South African Police Service and drug rehabilitation centres, whoonga is essentially just a rebranding of older heroin-based drugs.[23] A member of the South African police's Organised Crime Unit said that "drug dealers add all sorts of stuff to the heroin, the primary ingredient, just to increase the mass of the drug when it's sold and make the heroin go further. A lot of the stuff has no effect and users have no idea what's going in."[23]

The anti-retroviral drugs allegedly used to make whoonga are those distributed in the area to patients with HIV who are enrolled in government drug rehabilitation projects. The claimed major source of these anti-retrovirals appears to be robbery from HIV patients, with media reports claiming that patients are being mugged for their pills as they leave the clinics where they obtain them. Reports also claim that some patients sell their HIV medications, and that some corrupt health workers may be selling the anti-retrovirals illegally back into the whoonga market.[24][25][26]

A Harvard School of Public Health researcher has expressed concern that people with HIV who smoke whoonga may develop mutant strains of the virus which are resistant to the medication.[14] HIV drug resistance is growing due to recreational use of efavirenz and ritonavir, rendering them ineffective not only for whoonga users but non-users as well,[27] with one study showing that 3% to 5% of people with HIV in areas where whoonga was used were showing "pre-treatment resistance" to antiretroviral drugs used to treat HIV.[14]

As of February 2013, the South African Department of Justice and Constitutional Development was in the process of amending the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act 140 of 1992 to ban the possession and trafficking of the drug.[28]

See also

References

  1. ^ https://groundup.org.za/article/heroin-prices-have-plummeted-in-south-africa-opening-up-new-markets/, Jesse Copelyn, GroundUp, 9 October
  2. ^ SA is facing a fast-escalating heroin crisis — and it’s being misunderstood, Jesse Copleyn, Daily Maverick, 17 April 2024
  3. ^ The work of whoonga, an epidemic on the move, Mark Hunter, The Daily Maverick, 27 July 2018
  4. ^ Heroin hustles: Drugs and the laboring poor in South Africa, Mark Hunter, Social Science & Medicine Volume 265, November 2020
  5. ^ Maseko, Nomsa (18 March 2015). "South African townships' addictive drug cocktail". BBC News.
  6. ^ Heroin use has spread as prices plummet, Jesse Copelyn, GroundUp, 9 October
  7. ^ Heroin use has spread as prices plummet, Jesse Copelyn, GroundUp, 9 October 2024
  8. ^ "Nyaope / Whoonga". WeDoRecover. 14 April 2024.
  9. ^ a b c San-Marié Cronjé (21 December 2015). "Signs and symptoms of the use of Dagga and Nyaope". Ridge Times. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  10. ^ Stephens Molobi (1 February 2017). "NYAOPE BLOOD SHOCK!". DailySun. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  11. ^ Fihlani, Pumza (28 February 2011). "'Whoonga' threat to South African HIV patients". BBC News. Retrieved 24 December 2019.
  12. ^ Nelisiwe Msomi (15 February 2017). "'Bluetoothing': The drug myth that fooled a nation?". Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  13. ^ Lindile Sifile (8 August 2017). "Bluetooth drug high 'impossible'". The Star. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  14. ^ a b c Richard Knox (18 December 2012). "Dangers of 'Whoonga': Abuse Of AIDS Drugs Stokes Resistance". National Public Radio. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  15. ^ Ronelle Ramsamy: Deadly Gamble Archived 6 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Zululand Observer, 2010
  16. ^ Donna Bryson (28 November 2010). "AIDS drugs stolen in South Africa for 'whoonga". SFgate. Associated Press. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  17. ^ Hamilton Morris (22 April 2014). "Getting High on HIV Medication". Vice magazine. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  18. ^ Anders Kelto (28 July 2011). "Heroin's Handmaiden". Dispatches. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
  19. ^ Samora Chapman (18 September 2013). "Rat Poison & Heroin". Mahala. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013.
  20. ^ The Cytotoxic Effects of Nyaope, a Heroin-based Street Drug, in SH-SY5Y Neuroblastoma Cells, Willie M.U. Daniels, Matome M. Sekhotha, Nirvana Morgan, Ashmeetha Manilall, IBRO Neuroscience Reports Volume 16, June 2024, Pages 280-290
  21. ^ SA is facing a fast-escalating heroin crisis — and it’s being misunderstood, Jesse Copleyn, Daily Maverick, 17 April 2024
  22. ^ SA is facing a fast-escalating heroin crisis — and it’s being misunderstood, Jesse Copleyn, Daily Maverick, 17 April 2024
  23. ^ a b Masood Boomgaard (28 November 2010). "Whoonga Whammy". Independent Online (South Africa). Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  24. ^ Cite error: The named reference aljazeera video was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  25. ^ Bryson, Donna (20 November 2010). "'Whoonga' drug: a new twist in S.Africa's AIDS war". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 10 December 2010. Retrieved 22 November 2010.
  26. ^ Subashi Naidoo (28 November 2010). "Two pulls and I was hooked'. Addicts mug patients for ARVs". Times Live. Archived from the original on 30 November 2010.
  27. ^ Hope Gillette (26 December 2012). "Concerning HIV drug resistance fueled by new practice of 'whoonga'". saludify. Archived from the original on 5 December 2014.
  28. ^ Katlego Moeng (28 February 2013). "Nyaope to be officially classified". The Sowetan. Retrieved 11 April 2013.

Further reading

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