Re-Assessing Community Participation in the Fight Against Illicit Drug Use in South Africa

Recent findings show that prevention and treatment of drug addiction and related offences worldwide continue to fall short of the expected panacea for all social evils and intricacies. This is chiefly true of South Africa, where most of its young citizens are particularly vulnerable to drug use and face higher risks of associated health problems, such as mental disability, HIV/AIDS transmission, hepatitis C and other related infections. The gap is a major obstacle to achieving sustainable development goals and fulfilling the commitment of the international community to leave no nation behind. Traditionally, drug use policy has counted upon the criminal justice system and assumes that people who use drugs are the "societal enigma" that deserves retributive punishment or rehabilitation. Recent studies have debunked this misconception; hence, this study aims to re-assess community awareness and participation levels in the fight against the scourge of substance abuse. Using a constructivist research design, the paper demonstrates that community-based reduction programmes would produce more effective results than 'primary prevention programmes' in reducing cigarette, alcohol, cocaine, cannabis and marijuana use among the baseline users in South Africa. The study recommends an urgent intervention programme to ensure a comprehensive national response to combating substance abuse and providing mechanisms aimed at reducing substance abuse through prevention strategies, early intervention, community participation, treatment and reintegration programmes.