"I started that day and continued for 2 years": a case report on adolescent 'whoonga' addiction

Abstract

'Whoonga' is a new craze drug that young people in South Africa are increasingly using. It consists of a cocktail of drugs and is considered to be highly addictive. Yet, there is a paucity of research that describes young people???s experiences of using this drug. Using an interpretative phenomenological approach, this case report describes the highly addictive and destructive nature of adolescent whoonga addiction. The adolescent???s narrative revealed that initial experimentation with ???whoonga??? has the potential to rapidly escalate into full addiction over a short period of time. Whoonga addiction was also associated with involvement in criminal activities to support the adolescent???s high drug use demands. Whoonga is a dangerous street drug that requires immediate attention is South Africa.