Nyaope (Heroin) is one of the newer kids on the block in the South African drug scene. It has entered our market under the guise of new street names which is very area specific. Some popular examples are "Nyaope" in Pretoria (Tswane), "Sugars" in Durban (KZN), "Ungah" the Western Cape and "Pinch" in Mpumalanga. It is also called Plazana, Kwape, H, Thai and a list of other names.
One problem with Heroin that is sold on the South African streets is that only a portion of the substance that the user buys is actually Heroin. What is sold as "loops", "bags", "hits", "straws" or "foils" contain a high amount of different cutting agents. The Heroin is cut (mixed) with other substances like sugar, starch, acetaminophen, procaine and quinine (often from dealer to dealer) to make it more, in order to sell more. It could range from 10 - 70% heroin, as pure heroin is very rarely sold on the streets.
This makes the danger of overdosing from mainlining (injecting) very easy, because the user does not know how pure it is. The most popular way of using this drug in South Africa is smoking, traditionally called "Chasing the dragon". The drug is either put on a foil to heat it and the smoke is then inhaled with a straw or it is mixed with Dagga and smoked. Heroin is a highly addictive drug and many who just tried it out for the fun, found themselves helplessly addicted to it years down the line.
