TIK LOSING ITS GRIP CAPE TEENS - REPORT

Tik is losing its grip on Western Cape teenagers, according to the
latest medical research, which shows that use of the drug is most
prevalent among people in their early 20s.

But experts have warned that a new drug is likely to take its place.

Figures released this week show that the average age of tik users
has been on the increase since 2006.

When the drug first started sweeping through Cape Flats communities,
the average age of users was 19.

The latest figures were released by the SA Medical Research Council
whose SA Community Epidemiology Network on Drug Use collected the
information over the first six months of last year.

The network routinely collects the information from patients at 25
city rehabilitation centres and presents the results in two
six-month sets for each year.

Among other things, the findings show up users who have tik as their
main substance of abuse, as well as those who list it as a secondary
substance.

The research council has been collecting information since 2002 from
rehabilitation centre patients battling tik addiction .

Andreas Pluddeman, senior researcher in the council's Drug, Alcohol
and Drug Abuse Unit, said the average age of tik users had
definitely increased since 2006. "One of the conclusions that could
be drawn is that there are slightly fewer teenagers who are
initiating tik use."

But he said tik still remained the main problem drug among people
seeking help at the city's rehab centres.

Tik use reached a peak in the second half of 2006, with 1 184
patients out of a total 2 798 surveyed reporting it was their
primary drug of abuse.

Pluddeman said the findings, tracked from 2002, were "unprecedented"
in terms of the sharp increase of users.

In the first half of 2002, just 32 of the 1 551 patients were addicted to tik.

"There was a curve, and now it seems to be flattening off," he said.

Grant Jardine, of the Cape Town Drug Counselling Centre, said the
new figures had been expected, considering their own recent
statistics correlated with those of the MRC.

"Drugs work in cycles and each generation has a popular drug."