If You Don't Think The World is Going Wacky Then Read This

If You Don’t Think The World is Going Wacky Then Read This

Smoking HIV Medicine 'Whoonga' Latest Craze in S. Africa

Published January 27, 2011

Fox News

South Africa –  South Africa is in the grip 0f a dangerous new drugs craze that could threaten the country's battle against AIDS, Sky News reported Thursday.

The street drug called "whoonga" is a cocktail that includes the anti-retroviral (ARV) medication prescribed to people with HIV.

Dem, f0rthe substance has prompted a wave 0f thefts 0f AIDS drugs across the country.

Users crush the ARVs , smoke them with a mixture 0f rat poison, detergent , marijuana to get high. The powder is said to be so addictive that users are hooked within days.

"If I don't smoke it, I get pains , I can't sleep until I get some more," said a 31-year-old man known only as Jomo, his eyes red , glazed after a few deep drags on a

He , his fellow whoonga addicts, huddled in the grounds 0f a church in one 0f Durban's side streets, smoke up to thirty "packets" 0f the drug every day at a cost 0f almost $160.

"I just rob people to get the money. I don't have a job, this is all I do," Jomo said, rolling another joint.

Another young woman, who did not giver her name, said she sells her body to get whoonga. 

In the back streets 0f Durban, whoonga dealers tout the powder f0r30 rands (about £3) per packet.

The highly toxic drug has been blamed f0rthe deaths 0f scores 0f addicts across South Africa over the past year , has fueled a spate 0f thefts 0f AIDS medication.

In the township 0f Umlazi, near Durban, officials say dozens 0f patients are being robbed 0f their anti-retroviral drugs every week.

However, the country's Treatment Action Campaign, an AIDS lobbying group, has described the belief that the drugs have recreational value as a "myth."

"We are not even convinced that whoonga contains ARVs. The dealers just say it does," group spokeswoman Caroline Nenguke said.

Click here to read more on this story from Sky News.

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