Reach adulthood and there’s a good chance you’ve come across some recreational drug use at some point in your life – no one’s pointing any fingers, that’s just the nature of the beast these days.

You better hope you’ve never crossed paths with nyaope though, which has now become massively popular on the streets of central Johannesburg.

The Sunday Times sent some of their reporters onto the notorious Goud Street, which has now become a ‘haven for drug dealers and addicts alike’.

Below are some images and excerpts from the article:

Goud Street is a small, dark street in the city centre.

But instead of gold, needles are the main currency in this dystopian hell. Here, grime, filth and hopelessness are intertwined.

On Tuesday morning the street is a hive of activity. Men aged between 16 and 30-something sit in groups enjoying the winter sun. They scream as they help each other to inject drugs. Using one syringe and a rubber band to find veins, they are oblivious to passing motorists and the pedestrians stumbling over them…

Young men from throughout the city sleep on the pavement without food, water or anything that could give them energy. All they do is inject themselves with the notorious nyaope – a concoction of cocaine, heroin and other drugs…

A short distance from Commissioner Street, in a rundown building, more boys mix a concoction of anything that could possibly get them high.

Some of the addicts who are on antiretrovirals say they mix their medication with other drugs to create their own “super-drug”.

As we walk towards a corner where the mixing takes place, we are confronted by unforgiving faces. The message is blunt: “You are not welcome.”

The druglords who rule these streets have no reason to hide their trade. Not once during the days that we visit the area do we encounter a police officer or see a police car…

Ali, who runs a restaurant in Goud Street, said the area was hell. “No one is supposed to live like this and these kids are finished. No one cares any more. Police don’t come here and when they do it is to collect a dead body.

“Young boys die on the pavements and life just continues”…

Police spokesman Lungelo Dlamini denied claims that the police made no attempt to clamp down on drug peddling in the area.

But by nightfall on Wednesday Goud Street is crowded and everyone is in his corner or on his patch of pavement burning the rock and holding the syringe for yet another dose before facing a cold night of despair. Their only solace, a dangerous oblivion.

The war on drugs might make for a catchy title, but the truth of the matter is that there’s only one winner in this contest.

[source:sundaytimes]