National summit to address substance abuse, illicit trafficking 

The Social Development Department in partnership with the Central Drug Authority (CDA) will host the 3rd National Summit on Substance Abuse and Illicit Trafficking from 14 – 16 November at the Birchwood Hotel and Conference Centre in Boksburg. 

Given the high prevalence of substance abuse and illicit trafficking, which negatively affects the wellbeing of the country’s population, the Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu is expected to address the summit. 

Zulu will be accompanied by the Deputy Minister of Social Development,  Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, and the Chairperson of the Central Drug Authority, Nandi Mayathula-Khoza. 

The summit will be held under the theme: “Towards sustainable, coordinated and impactful strategies for national drug and substance use in South Africa”. 

“The summit will unfold on the premise of the need to realise a South Africa free of substance abuse through capacity building sessions on collaborative and coordinated evidence based and sustainable socio-economic interventions.
 
“Civil society organisations together with experts and leaders in government attending the summit are expected to deliberate on drug demand reduction, drug supply reduction, access to medicines and prevention of NPS [new psychoactive substances] diversion, governance, accountability and leadership, research development, monitoring and evaluation, and economic development, as key thematic areas of the summit,” the department said in a statement. 
  
Setting the scene and sharing lived experiences, affected and infected persons from various provinces across South Africa will be speaking at the opening ceremony tomorrow.

Former Bafana Bafana and Orlando Pirates player, Junaid Hartley, now a recovered substance user, will be sharing his fourteen-year battle with addiction and sleeping on the streets of Johannesburg. – SAnews.gov.za