DIRTY, dizzy and hungry young men and women gather at an old abandoned school every day to inject each other with the toxic drug nyaope.
More than 100 addicts have turned a building that once housed Boikgethelo primary school in Sebokeng in the Vaal into a drug den.
They use shoelaces to make veins in different parts of their bodies visible for injection and then "spike" themselves with the drug. Pairs of them buy a single pack of the blue-coloured granules for R40, which they dilute with water in caps of cold drink bottles.
"We help each other because we're in this together. Some inject themselves in the hands while many more prefer injecting it in the arm," one man said.
Sowetan saw that many addicts now take the nyaope in its raw form by injecting the blue granules directly into their veins.
"We buy the syringes at local chemists for R5 and each dose of this drug lasts about five hours," said a 31-year old man who has been enslaved to nyaope for over five years.
"I rented out my family home after my parents died and lived in the shack outside just to be able to collect rent which I use to support my habit," said another addict.
"This is risky because we often get mishits (missed shots), when the injection misses the vein, and there's swelling and rotting of the skin where the injection went in, we've all been hospitalised because of this," one man said.
A supplier with a bag full of money is always present to make sure the demand for the drug is met timeously.
"I'm in this for the money and it's not just these guys here that buy the stuff from me. Buyers also come from afar to get this thing here," he said.
Moments later, a BMW pulled up. The supplier ran to the vehicle and returned with R400 after selling 10 small bags. "They are my regulars," the supplier said.
The nyaope addicts all said that while they wanted to quit, they could not imagine life without the drug. They confessed to going for weeks without a bath or sex, because of their obsession with the drug.
"After we looted a store owned by foreigners recently, we scored loads of cash and we headed to Joburg to buy sex from prostitutes. The guys went in one by one to have their time with magoshas but I couldn't go through with it, I only had nyaope on my mind," a 20-year-old man said.
The addicts range in age between 15 and 35, and come from families in and around Sebokeng.
There are two nyaope sessions at the building each day, a 9am "injectathon" and another session takes place at 6pm.
"If you want a blackout, then first you spike with nyaope and seconds later you smoke dagga, and this will knock you out for hours," a man who lost his job as a taxi driver said.
newsdesk@sowetan.co.za
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
Nyaope junkies of the Vaal
DIRTY, dizzy and hungry young men and women gather at an old abandoned school every day to inject each other with the toxic drug nyaope.
More than 100 addicts have turned a building that once housed Boikgethelo primary school in Sebokeng in the Vaal into a drug den.
They use shoelaces to make veins in different parts of their bodies visible for injection and then "spike" themselves with the drug. Pairs of them buy a single pack of the blue-coloured granules for R40, which they dilute with water in caps of cold drink bottles.
"We help each other because we're in this together. Some inject themselves in the hands while many more prefer injecting it in the arm," one man said.
Sowetan saw that many addicts now take the nyaope in its raw form by injecting the blue granules directly into their veins.
"We buy the syringes at local chemists for R5 and each dose of this drug lasts about five hours," said a 31-year old man who has been enslaved to nyaope for over five years.
"I rented out my family home after my parents died and lived in the shack outside just to be able to collect rent which I use to support my habit," said another addict.
"This is risky because we often get mishits (missed shots), when the injection misses the vein, and there's swelling and rotting of the skin where the injection went in, we've all been hospitalised because of this," one man said.
A supplier with a bag full of money is always present to make sure the demand for the drug is met timeously.
"I'm in this for the money and it's not just these guys here that buy the stuff from me. Buyers also come from afar to get this thing here," he said.
Moments later, a BMW pulled up. The supplier ran to the vehicle and returned with R400 after selling 10 small bags. "They are my regulars," the supplier said.
The nyaope addicts all said that while they wanted to quit, they could not imagine life without the drug. They confessed to going for weeks without a bath or sex, because of their obsession with the drug.
"After we looted a store owned by foreigners recently, we scored loads of cash and we headed to Joburg to buy sex from prostitutes. The guys went in one by one to have their time with magoshas but I couldn't go through with it, I only had nyaope on my mind," a 20-year-old man said.
The addicts range in age between 15 and 35, and come from families in and around Sebokeng.
There are two nyaope sessions at the building each day, a 9am "injectathon" and another session takes place at 6pm.
"If you want a blackout, then first you spike with nyaope and seconds later you smoke dagga, and this will knock you out for hours," a man who lost his job as a taxi driver said.
newsdesk@sowetan.co.za
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
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