I have a drug problem

And what I mean by that, is that I have a problem with drugs. A big one.

I’ve recently started working on a project that brings me into contact with a lot of homeless people. These people who I'd cross the road to avoid as I walked from my car to my office, people who I'd change lanes to dodge, people I'd ignore if they rang my bell – these people have suddenly become, well, people to me.

In working with them, I’ve heard their stories. And the stories they tell are richer, for lack of a better word, than those of many a published author. Life on the street is terrifying, and for most of them it was drugs that got them there.

Take Ryan*, estranged from his family after he lied to them, stole their money, sold their belongings to buy drugs and pay off drug debt. He’s been clean now for 6 months, but they want nothing to do with him. Or Wynand*, the ex-model who lost everything when coke became his everything. There’s also Sheila* and Carl*, a track marked couple, who want to go to rehab, but can’t afford it. And since Carl broke his leg and can't work, they've used up what they had saved.

Then there are the euphoric, but depressed crack-heads; a woman on mandrax trying to give you her baby; prostitutes so high on tik they can’t string a sentence together; the old men and women with minds whittled away to nothing by years of abuse.

Some of them were born into it. Addicted from birth, they stood no chance. I met a woman with a baby so stoned, he couldn’t open his eyes – just a limp mound on her back. But I'll say it again, for many, it was drugs that got them on the street in the first place.

Drugs mess people up. But still, every weekend, girls whip on their high-waisted bum shorts and lumo tops, and boys flex their muscles in their low-cut vests, and together they pop some MDMA or shnaff some coke because #YOLO.

I’m not going to tip-toe around this. Doing drugs is fucking stupid. Fucking irresponsible and fucking stupid. One bad buy and you end up with something that isn’t just the usual stuff from your dealer. You could be the next Ryan or Waynand or Sheila or Carl, or any one of the 7000 homeless people sleeping on our city’s street. 

And if someone has a problem with me calling them fucking stupid and fucking irresponsible, well honestly, it's not me who has the problem.

Add your voice to the "I have a drug problem" campaign, by sharing your opinion or a story about how drug abuse affects your life in Cape Town on Twitter, with the hashtag #ihaveadrugproblem. 

If you or someone you know needs help with substance abuse, phone the free 24hour helpline 

on 0800 435 748. For more info on the City of Cape Town Substance Abuse Campaign, click here.

*names have been changed.