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An increasing number of South Africa’s young ones are turning to a deadly cough syrup and alcohol concoction to get high – and very little is being done about it.

While parents and schools are still trying to deal with underage vaping, it seems the kids will never run out of ideas on how to get high.

This newest trend of mixing cough syrups like Stillpane with bottles of alcohol to make a ‘cocktail’ is particularly popular among pupils and unemployed youngsters in townships, with scenes of kids lurching and lying about local parks becoming common.

A security guard who spoke to City Press said that he “witnesses dozens of young people on a daily basis, arriving in groups at the park to smoke hubbly-bubbly pipes (designed specifically to smoke opium and other narcotics), drink and smoke dagga and cigarettes.”

However, lately, he is said to have noticed more and more youngsters roaming around drowsy after drinking from two-litre cool drink bottles containing an unidentified fluid.

“Most of them drink a reddish or brownish syrup that changes the colour of the whole bottle. It was two syrups: Alcophyllex [a cough medication] and Stilpane [an analgesic]. I noticed that they were all taking sips of the mixture and passing it around until it was finished. Then they diluted more of it. They can do this all day, while seated in groups in the park,”

Several eyewitnesses have spoken out about seeing kids roaming around with bottles filled with a reddish liquid.

“Wonders never cease with these children. We were the youth of 1976 and never had the time to gallivant and do all these futureless activities. We fought for our rights and better opportunities, which we now have, but our children want to lead us back into the struggle.”

“Unfortunately, we’re old now. We believed that we raised our children well enough to know better than to cause this embarrassment to us. We can only pray for them now and hope that one day they’ll grow up, learn from their mistakes and change their ways before it’s too late.”

Codeine is a drug used to relieve pain caused by injuries and can be addictive when overused, and dangerous when mixed in with alcohol to create a ‘cocktail’. Unfortunately, medicines like Stillpane are easily obtained at pharmacies. Prescribed for short-term use (no longer than five days) to treat mild to moderate pain, it was never meant to be a mixer for teenagers to abuse.

According to Xolani Fihla, a spokesperson for the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department, the police have been “monitoring” the growing trend of youngsters consuming syrups and smoking hooka pipes around the country, particularly in public parks.

“This habit is also rife in the south of Johannesburg. We’ve found young people mixing Allergex syrup with Stilpane in two-litre bottles to stay drowsy and high. It’s also happening in Soweto, Alexandra and Lenasia. The youth are very aggressive, but, because we’re police officers, we disperse them and notify their parents,” says Fihla.

“As we’re now approaching the festive season, we’ll be arresting these children and calling their parents to come and fetch them. We need the law to be hasher in demonstrating zero tolerance for underage drinking and drug abuse. Mostly, however, we need communities to work together in fighting this trend.”

Ja, the kids are not alright. Hopefully, this isn’t another ‘problem’ we will just keep ‘monitoring’ until a bigger issue pops up. We can’t afford to lose another generation.

[source:citypress]