The Gauteng Provincial Government on Tuesday, 25 October 2022 launched the substance abuse helpline in line with Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s commitment to intensify the fight against substance abuse
across Gauteng.

The 24-hour anti-substance abuse call centre service, led by trained call centre agents, is a platform for parents/caregivers to make applications for children and young people addicted to drugs to be accommodated at a state rehabilitation facility for treatment.

“You will recall that when we announced the MEC for Social Development and GDARD, one of the key mandates we gave her was to respond to the challenges of substance abuse in particular nyaope in our
communities. Ever since that announcement we have been inundated with calls from parents that wanted help for their children.

“We therefore felt we needed to build an infrastructure that can take the calls, screen them, and identify areas where there are problems. Today’s walkabout was to officially launch the helpline as part of our intervention,” said Premier Panyaza Lesufi.

The drug intervention is an integrated programme with the department of health, social development, the department of agriculture, rural development, and Environment.

Source: Government of South Africa