Drug addiction is like a dark deep hole. With no hope of ever making it out, addicts turn to their next “fix” to remove themselves from the world and experience the feeling of euphoria.
This is the reality for many drug addicts at the Sanca Sanpark Rehab Centre in Klerksdorp in North West.
The non-profit organisation works with prevention and treatment of substance abuse and addiction in all age groups. It provides in- and outpatient treatment for all types of addiction — alcohol abuse, drug abuse, smoking and gambling.
Sanpark assistant director Marina de Lange said they try to keep the fees as low as possible to make them affordable to everyone.
“We try to balance it so that we can also help people who can’t afford it.”
De Lange said patients often use a mixture of drugs. “It is very seldom that we get a person addicted to one specific drug. Because of that we see a lot of psychotic behaviour while they are coming off the drugs.
“Substance abusers only tend to remember the parts that they want to remember. They can’t remember how bad their lives were outside. A part of our work is to help them with a reality check.”
The short-term centre can take up to 36 patients.
De Lange said they use the cognitive emotional behavioural therapy approach to treat their patients.
“We work on emotions and behaviour. What makes me happy is to see the difference in the state that people come to the rehab and how they leave. I wish they could see themselves and the tremendous changes in their lives when they leave.”
Louis Oberholzer walked through the centre’s doors less than 10 days ago, leaving behind a life of disappointment, regret and losing out on marrying the love of his life.
“The withdrawals are very tough. You get hot and cold sweats. Iit feels as if there is cement in your veins. You can’t bend your legs, you are not able to sleep and you can’t focus. You feel as if there are red ants walking on your body.”
The 36-year-old said his first encounter with drugs was in 2004 when he was studying towards a national business certificate at a college in Centurion. He first experimented with dagga and later tried CAT, cocaine and ecstasy. “It was the party drugs, and back then it was the clubbing lifestyle and going out in Centurion.”
He completed his business certificate in 2008 and, having met the love of his life, moved to Kempton Park to escape the temptations in Centurion.
It wasn’t long before he met a friend who introduced him to heroin. That’s when everything changed.
“On weekends I would drive to Centurion to fetch my girlfriend and on Sundays after I dropped her off, I would go to this friend’s house where we experimented with heroin.
“It was a lekker feeling and you would forget about the world. When I wanted to leave it, I felt the withdrawals and discovered that I had a big problem because it was something I really liked.
“I liked the feeling of euphoria and forgetting about the problems of the world and just floating,” he said.
He said he eventually broke up with his then girlfriend and started selling his belongings to get his next fix.
“I told her I had another girl because I realised that I was addicted to heroin and didn’t want to put her through it. That destroyed me and the heroin made me forget.”
His daily doses of drugs would include spending R150 on heroin, R100 on rocks, R50 on crystal meth and R120 on alcohol.
“I didn’t use to sleep. I would tuck myself in and smoke till I passed out.”
He later ended up on the streets in Gauteng, but was fortunate to find a job at a logistics company in Potchefstroom when he moved in with his grandfather. He said the company encouraged him to get help.
“I smoked away houses, cars and the love of my life who is now in the Netherlands. But now I can concentrate on myself and my future. I’ve had enough.
“There is beauty outside, but you just have to accept it. Stop now, because your problems will just get more and more. Your family will be gone before you can blink your eyes or you will be dead before that happens.”
Thabang Tsolo, who is also a patient at the centre, said drug addicts are excellent at hiding their addiction from their families.
“I was able to hide it for long enough until I couldn’t take it any more. When you start using drugs, you are still hiding it but drugs eat up your sense of caring.
“You start to become careless and you become shameless of what people think. When it comes to decision-making, addicts always make the wrong decisions.”
Tsolo, from Bothaville, said he was hooked on dagga and crystal meth.
“I used to mix the two because they corresponded. The one [crystal meth] keeps you awake and curbs your appetite and the other one makes sleepy and gives you appetite.”
He said he would steal from his family to fund his habit.
“When my family would send me to the shop to buy food, I would make sure that there is always something missing because in my head I’m already thinking about my needs as an addict.
“I even stole certain things at the shop and would keep the money to feed my cravings.”
Things changed for Tsolo at the end of 2020, when a close friend almost overdosed.
“I became stressed and worried because if this could happen to him, then it could happen to me, because we used similar substances. I started losing interest in drugs but because I was addicted it was hard for me to quit without professional help.
“It was too late for me;, I was already in the chains of addiction.” He said he eventually opened up to his family and asked for help.
“Little did I know that was my first step. At first I was hesitant about rehab because I thought it’s the same as prison, but in March I asked my family to check me in.”
Tsolo will be discharged from the rehabilitation programme on October 25. He plans to start an awareness campaign in his community.
“Prevention is better than cure. It will make others aware that they are not alone. The finish line of using substances is death. Addiction is not life. I am grateful for the opportunity to discuss my journey and share it with others who might need help.”
Katlego Nantu started smoking crystal meth in grade nine.
“Everything changed at home. My family is hurt and my grandmother is hurt because I’ve disappointed them.”
Nantu said when his dream of becoming a professional soccer player slipped away due to his drug abuse, he begged his family to put him in rehab.
“I saw that I was wasting my life on drugs and gang violence, so I decided to change and become a better person.”
Nantu is expected to be discharged next week. “I am excited to be going home to my family and now I am going to go after my dream of becoming a football player.”
This year marks 18 years of sobriety for Nomsa Kama, who works as a youth adviser at the centre. But it didn’t come easy, Kama said. She had a tough childhood. Her father was an alcoholic and her mother was absent. She was raised by her aunts and uncles.
Kama’s pethidine and morphine addiction started with a simple injection she received from a friend and local doctor.
“She the doctor] was in a car crash and asked me if could assist her by collecting her medication.
“We eventually became friends. I struggled sleeping and there was this medication that she was always using at night that made her drowsy, so I asked her to give me something to help me sleep. She gave me the injection and that’s how it started.”
Kama said the doctor would write out pethidine and morphine prescriptions using different names of patients. “She would also pay for it because she had money. I didn’t have money. I would buy boxes and boxes at the chemists. Those drugs can make you sleepy for three days.”
After failing matric at the age of 19, Kama said she joined the centre for the first time to get her family and teachers “off her back”.
“I only came to rehab because they said I would die, so I came just to get them off my back.”
She said after being discharged from the centre, she relapsed.
“At that time I asked how they can call this is a drug if doctors are prescribing it.”
The second time around, Kama booked herself into the Sanpark Rehab Centre. Since then, Kama has made strides in bettering her life.
“There are days when I feel as if I can’t take it any more, I just need a fix, but I can’t do that. There are days when I wish I could be stoned as hell but I will lose 18 years of trust that I have gained from my family. People are only going to remember what I did now.”
Anna-Marie Swanepoel’s face lights up when she speaks about her new life away from drugs. She used rocks for several years and was forced to sleep at petrol stations after her family disowned her.
“I had to survive. I was beaten and raped; I went through a lot of stuff. No one noticed me. The only people that cared were some of the people who put in petrol at the garage.”
She said she was grateful for the lifeline she got from a local church to attend rehab. Swanepoel now celebrates a year of sobriety.
“They [rehab centre] didn’t give up on me no matter how difficult I was. It felt like family because my family was not part of my life at the time because I had hurt them a lot.
“I am working now as a cleaner and I’m an engaged to the most amazing guy. I am grateful for a second chance in life.”
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