Ever heard of "whoonga"? Nope, me neither. But if you live in certain parts of Durban or KwaZulu-Natal, your life would almost certainly have already been affected by it.
Anti Retro Viral drugs (ARVs, medication for HIV/Aids) are crushed and combined with rat poison, powder detergent and marijuana then smoked. Addicts buy pre-rolled cigarettes or powder enough for a hit for around $3 USD - though most of them survive on $2 a day, and addicts require several hits a day. It appears that the ARVs are the active ingredient, as it were, and that the rat poison and detergent is to thicken the mixture. One account (you have to read this one for yourself!) lists strepsils as a component.
Instant addiction has been reported, with smokers experiencing cravings and the characteristic stomach cramps (which can get severe enough to kill) on their first day of use. In order to get ahold of the ARVs, addicts and dealers are corrupting health workers, buying off HIV sufferers, robbing HIV sufferers and even attempting to infect themselves with HIV to get free ARVs from the government.
Whoonga was implicated in two hideous massacres in KwaZulu Natal within 72 hours last week, where 6 people were killed in the first attack and four in the second. Residents insist the attackers were high on whoonga, which reportedly has disassociative and mood-enhancing effects: "it feels like you got no problem at all. Like yesterday if you killed a person and you smoked this thing you wouldn't remember that you killed a person yesterday."
Man, and I thought P was gross.
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