The dangerous recreational drug whoonga is not made up of crushed HIV treatment drugs, says President Jacob Zuma
“Experts from the University of KwaZulu-Natal have found that the whoonga does not contain antiretroviral drugs, but is made up of heroin mixed with rat poison and other chemicals,” said Zuma.
He was delivering the keynote address during the first day of the second Biennial Summit on substance abuse at Durban’s Inkosi Albert Luthuli ICC on Tuesday.
Zuma said many people believed that whoonga was made up of crushed HIV drugs mixed with other drugs.
“Perpetuating such inaccuracies is dangerous as it may make drug addicts steal ARVs, which would put the lives of people on treatment for HIV at risk,” he said.
The conference was also attended by inter-ministerial committee members who are mainly ministers and senior government officials.
The problem of whoonga in KwaZulu-Natal began recently and it has been reported that the highly toxic drug leads users to violence.