Trajectories of initiation for the heroin-based drug whoonga - qualitative evidence from South Africa.

The International Journal on Drug Policy
Griffin A TyreeDavid J Grelotti

Abstract

Whoonga is a smoked heroin-based street drug that first emerged in South Africa a decade ago. While previous scientific reports suggest that use is growing and youth are particularly vulnerable, trajectories of initiation are not well characterized. In 2015, 30 men undergoing residential addiction treatment for this smoked heroin drug in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa participated in semi-structured interviews about their experiences using the drug. Interview data were coded using qualitative content analysis. Participant trajectories to initiating smoked heroin were "vertical" in the context of marijuana use or "horizontal" in the context of other hard drug use. Participants reporting vertical trajectories began smoking heroin as youth at school or in other settings where people were smoking marijuana. Several participants with horizontal trajectories started smoking heroin to address symptoms of other drug or alcohol addiction. Social influences on initiation emerged as an overarching theme. Members of participants' social networks who were smoking or distributing heroin figured prominently in initiation narratives. Surprisingly, references to injection drug use were absent from initiation narratives. Participants reported peopl...Continue Reading

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