Why does South Africa treat drug addiction as a criminal problem, rather than a health one?

• South Africa’s national drug master plan recognises drug addiction as a chronic disease that affects the brain and behaviour. 
• It says human rights — instead of prejudice — should underpin the country’s fight against drugs. That’s why it recommends harm reduction strategies, such as opioid replacement therapy, where drug users are given methadone to curb their withdrawal symptoms and to eventually wean some of them off opioids. 
• But instead, police follow the Drugs & Drug Trafficking Act of 1992, which says drug use is criminal.
• Police target low-level drug mules and go through a cycle of arrests and reoffending that wastes resources and achieves little.
• Here’s why — and how — we should treat addiction as a public health, rather than a criminal, problem. 

This story was produced by the Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism. Sign up for the newsletter.