The City has opened a Substance Abuse Treatment Centre in Eldorado Park as part of efforts to wage a sustained war on drugs and substance abuse.
The facility, in the south of Joburg, is the latest in a citywide investment in free community-based substance abuse treatment centres. A further three similar centres will be rolled out in the Westbury, Riverpark and Joubert Park Clinics during the current financial year.
The long-term plan is to rollout 33 outpatient drug and substance abuse rehab facilities across the municipality.
The Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Cllr Herman Mashaba, and the MMC for Health and Social Development, Dr Mpho Phalatse, attended the launch of the Eldorado Park facility on Tuesday, 5 June.
“It is imperative for us to unite in ridding our communities of drugs. For that to happen, we must speak out and find new ways to achieve economic upliftment,” said Mayor Mashaba.
The City has an Integrated Substance Abuse Strategy and a Local Drug Action Committee, which works to curb the peddling of drugs in Joburg communities and to fight the scourge of substance abuse.
“There is no place for drug peddlers in our City,” said Mayor Mashaba.
According to the Community Agency for Social Enquiry (CASE), the abuse of dagga, nyaope and alcohol is rife in Eldorado Park, while awareness and services available to treat substance dependency and abuse are significantly low.
“There is a great need for the establishment of community-based substance abuse treatment centres to compliment services rendered by both the private and state-owned facilities, due to exorbitant costs that render these facilities inaccessible to our indigent residents,” explained MMC Phalatse.
She added that it is for this reason that the City has adopted a multi-disciplinary, free drug intervention programme that seeks to reduce substance abuse in communities in Johannesburg. “Drugs are killing our children. They are our future. Without a vibrant youth, this City and country will be doomed,” said Mayor Mashaba.
