GOVERNMENT, business, NGOs and the media have joined forces to tell tik where to get off. The “Tik Off” campaign, one of the biggest anti-tik awareness campaigns in Cape Town, launches with a Tik-Off Week at Golden Acre Shopping Centre from Monday, 9 to Friday, 13 July.
Tik-Off Week, hosted on Golden Acre’s main piazza, will feature exhibitions, talks, counselling and educational entertainment.
The week has been put together by businesses, government, the media and NGOs to empower the community to fight tik and its related social problems.
According to statistics recently published in the Cape media, almost 60 percent of people in Cape Town seeking treatment for the abuse of tik are under the age of 20.
Forty percent of these users use the drug daily. Children as young as 10 are experimenting with drugs and becoming addicted to tik as the Western Cape drug epidemic grows.
Medical Research Council (MRC) information shows that substance abuse in the Western Cape has skyrocketed over the past three years, with the age of drug users ranging from 10 to 54.
The number of tik patients seeking help at treatment centres has soared from five percent at the end of 2003 to 59 percent.
More than a third of the patients are under the age of 20.
The rapidly spreading abuse of tik, particularly amongst the youth, is a concern that everyone in the community must confront.
Golden Acre Shopping centre, situated in the heart of the city and drawing 50 000 train, bus and taxi commuters daily from the working class areas of Cape Town, is well situated to reach communities affected by tik abuse.
“We believe that business needs to partner with the community in fighting this scourge,” says Mantombi Masoka, Golden Acre spokesperson.
“A week-long anti-tik and drug awareness campaign to educate the community of Cape Town, particularly parents and the youth, will contribute to the fight against the pandemic,” Masoka adds.
“This campaign can only work if we have the support of the anti-drug abuse policing, rehabilitation and educational organisations and the media, so we have partnered with representatives of the Western Cape Departments of Social Development and Education, Good Hope FM, WP Newspapers, Hip Hop Media Lounge, and a range of community organisations and drug counselling services to launch this campaign.”
The Golden Acre Tik Off campaign is supported by the Office of the Premier and the Department of Education.
It is aimed at educating school children and members of the community about drug abuse and related social problems.
The theme of the campaign is “Tik Off – There is hope”.
The campaign emphasises that there is hope for the future and if the community works together, we can get tik off our streets and out of our lives.
. WP Newspapers is the print media partner in the Tik-Off campaign. The publishing house publishes TygerBurger, People’s Post, City Vision and Blits.
Article courtesy of www.news24.com
