Western Cape Premier Helen Zille on Wednesday officially opened a new Western Cape Rehabilitation Centre in Eerste River for youth as part of the implementation of a strategic plan to address harmful alcohol and drug use. According to Zille, this plan, which is being driven by the Premier's Office and implemented across provincial departments, in an integrated way, is the most comprehensive policy response to substance abuse in the country.
She said the new in-patient rehabilitation centre in Eerste River is the outcome of a shift in policy emphasis towards preventing the development of chronic addiction, substance use disorders, mental illness and criminality. It is designed to treat people with substance use disorders early in their lives, to give them a chance to recover, carry on with their education and psychological development, and become healthy, responsible adults. It is the first rehabilitation centre in the province to exclusively target young people between the ages of 13 and 18.
"The scale of alcohol and drug abuse in the Western Cape has reached crisis proportions over the last few years, with younger and younger people abusing substances. The statistics speak for themselves," Zille said, quoting the following:
- Children (defined as youths under the age of 19) use more tik than adults.
- According to the Medical Research Council, persons under the age of 20 in treatment for tik-related problems increased from 4% in 2003 to 57% in the first half of 2007.
- The 2008 Youth Risk Behaviour Survey reported that 41% of Western Cape secondary school learners sampled (grades 8-11) had engaged in binge-drinking in the month prior to the survey, 25% used dagga, and 9% used tik.
- Psychiatric facilities report that over 50% of young people admitted with mental health problems also have co-occurring substance use disorders.
- Two in every five schools report the presence of drug merchants on the premises during school hours.
Urgent intervention
According to the Premier, it was clear that urgent intervention is required to curb alcohol and drug abuse amongst the youth. "The new rehabilitation centre is one of the ways we hope to achieve this." The centre can accommodate 40 patients between the age of 13 and 18 years at any given time. Patients are either referred by schools, parents or courts. As an inpatient centre it will help drive the Western Cape Government's new prevention-focused approach by:
- Treating young people who are abusing or addicted to drugs and alcohol, in order to prevent them from developing into adulthood with chronic addiction and related substance abuse disorders ;
- Separating young people from adults receiving treatment, since the approaches are, of necessity, different;
- Removing young people from socially dysfunctional environments (such as abusive families or gangs) which fuel alcohol and drug abuse.
- The centre will provide a range of services including: social work, child and youth care work, medical/mental health care, detoxification services, occupational therapy and education services aimed at integrating school curriculum subjects with the treatment program.
More interventions
"Over the next five years, we will be establishing a number of youth intervention and treatment facilities in the province, with a focus on youth outpatient treatment programs (which are generally the preferred option for treating youth where there is no need to remove them from their community). The first is due to open in the second half of the year, also in Eerste River, to be operated from school premises after school hours," Zille said.
She added that government's role was "to give people - and especially young people - the opportunities and the means to succeed in life. It is up to each and every young person - with the help of their parents and teachers - to use these opportunities and take responsibility for their own lives. This centre and the others like it that we open are designed to provide such an opportunity. Empowering young people to make the right choices is the key to winning the war against drug and alcohol abuse." VOC |
