Johannesburg – The national lockdown has opened a window for drug users to get treatment for drug addiction. Since the start of the lockdown, many homeless people have been placed in shelters across the country.
Most of the 89 men living at the church-run shelter in Pretoria’s northern suburb of Akasia are being treated for heroin addiction for the first time with methadone administered by Pretoria’s Community Oriented Substance Use Programme (COSUP).
Over 600 people have joined the programme since South Africa went into lockdown on 27 March.
“The lockdown gave access to many people who would not have done it before,” said COSUP head Janine Hugo.
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