Stakeholders called to roll up their sleeves against substance abuse

The third National Summit on Substance Abuse and Illicit Trafficking provides an opportunity to discuss sustainable, coordinated, and impactful strategies for the reduction of drug and substance use and misuse in South Africa.

This is according to Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu, who opened the summit on Tuesday.

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

“The days of talking statistics are over. This is the time to work very hard to reduce the statistics and talk implementation and progress,” the Minister said. 

The Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Act of 2008 mandates the Department of Social Development to develop programmes and support initiatives aimed at the prevention and treatment of substance abuse.

Minister Zulu said the summit therefore affords everyone, especially policy makers and researchers, a space to work in collaboration with, among others, government departments and other key stakeholders involved in dealing with the challenge of harmful substance use. 

“It is through such collaboration that the summit will deliberate on exchange of good practice, evidence-based interventions, challenges, and sustainable socio-economic strategies. All these will assist with reducing the supply, demand and harm caused by the use, misuse and abuse of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs,” she said. 

The long-awaited summit will explore existing research conducted by both public and private institutions on the prevalence of substance use, misuse and abuse in the country and encourage institutions of higher learning and academia to assist further in conducting research. 

The Minister highlighted that the scourge of substance abuse is like a compound involving many persons and institutions.

She said that some of these entities and individuals, are using various substances for educational purposes and research, which is a good initiative for social workers, medical experts, government departments, entities and families to learn and have a broader understanding. 

“I am mentioning families, because many individuals, who were once responsible citizens and role models for their children and communities they live in, are now in rehabilitation centres.

“This is not only a concern for government which spend millions on rehabilitating abusers of substances, but also cause a long-term emotional and psychological dents and wounds, which may not be easy to heal.

“Today, South Africa is faced with array of social ills such as dysfunctional families, children living on the streets, high prevalence of teenage pregnancy, school dropouts, the spread of HIV/Aids chronic disease, and gender based violence and femicide, which has been declared a second pandemic in the country. Some if not most of these problems are caused by substance abuse, which could have been prevented if we worked together as different sectors in society,” she said. 

The country has policies which are envied by many countries globally, but progress in terms of successful implementation leave much to be desired, the Minister said, adding that this calls for drastic measures as efforts, time and money is invested in the good policies.

The Minister said the summit came at a right time as Cabinet has approved the Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Use Disorder Policy be gazetted for public consultation.

The Minister urged the summit to contribute to the policy which will be published on 17 of November 2023 for public comments. – SAnews.gov.za