An eight-year-old from Elsies River has tested positive for a concoction of hard drugs that consisted of mandrax, tik, heroin and cocaine, which has raised concerns of drug use by children within the Cape Flats.
The case was spotted by Franchesca Walker, Leonsdale ward councillor, last week, who stated that community workers who tried to assist the child were left ‘dumbfounded’ when the boy tested positive for the four types of drugs, as reported by IOL.
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In an interview with the Weekend Argus, she said that she became aware of the situation when the child’s grandmother approached her for help.
‘I was working in my ward when the granny approached me and said her eight-year-old grandson had gone missing. I searched and searched but could not find him,’ said Walker.
‘Later in the day, while working in a different part of Leonsdale, the community workers spotted him and I tried to speak to him when I realised something was wrong,’ she added.
The child was transported to the Tehillah Centre, where he performed a drug test and tested positive for hard drugs. Social workers were then immediately notified.
Sister Magda Kleyn, CEO of the Tehillah Centre, said the alarming discovery prompted the team to probe the matter further and were shocked to discover children were able to buy cocaine ‘for as little as R20’.
‘[The child] tested positive for mandrax, tik, heroin and cocaine and we were very very shocked. We looked further into this and found that the teachers at local schools and parents are at their wits’ end with drug use among children in Leonsdale, but cocaine is becoming a very big concern,’ said Kleyn.
‘We found out that the children can buy cocaine for just R50, and they even buy just one line to sniff for R20 if they don’t have R50,’ she added.
‘All of a sudden cocaine has flooded the Cape Flats drug market and it is becoming a big problem. Cocaine is not a drug you would normally find in our communities as it has historically been a high-priced drug which is mostly used in affluent areas,’ said Isaacs.
‘Now we are seeing it being sold for very cheap and we worry about what is being used to water it down to make it so cheap. We hope that the authorities are investigating who is behind this scourge,’ Isaacs added.
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