The City of Johannesburg is accelerating its war on drug abuse. Early this week, it launched an extension of the Golden Harvest Rehabilitation Centre in Northworld, Johannesburg.
The centre started operating in 2011 as an in-patient centre for 12 teenage boys between the ages of 13 and 17, who were addicted to alcohol and various other drugs.
Today, the centre has extended its premises to cater for 58 patients, both male and female. The aim is to provide services to poor individuals, who cannot afford the cost of accessing exorbitant private owned rehabilitation centres.
The City of Johannesburg will work closely with the African National Council on Alcoholism (ANCA), and the facility will offer a six-week in-patient treatment programme.
“Of the total admissions, 24 children were admitted for Marijuana as a substance of choice, 15 children for Nyaope, while 12 were admitted for either Methamphetamine, Cat or Mandrax.”
– Executive Mayor, Herman Mashaba
In the 2018/19 budget, R30 million in operational expenditure, and R12.5 million in capital expenditure has been allocated to the Departments of Health and Social Development to fully capacitate the City’s free Community Substance Abuse Treatment Centres.
This will see the establishment of another in-patient rehabilitation centre in Poortjie, Region G.