Whoonga

Whoonga (also known as nyaope[1] or wonga) is a form of black tar heroin, sometimes mixed with other substances, that came into widespread use in South Africa[2] in 2009.

Whoonga dealers often sell the drug as a super-powerful marijuana blend. Dealers add powdered substances to the mix to bulk it up. Additives range from actual pharmaceutical drugs and cleaning chemicals to any powder-based substance that can be found. Whoonga/nyaope is very addictive because of its heroin content.[3]

Whoonga is sometimes said to contain antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), particularly efavirenz, which are prescribed to treat HIV, but analysis of samples shows no such content, and police have remarked that dealers are known to add "all sorts of stuff" to a drug to bulk it out. Adulteration with ARVs was the subject of Getting High on HIV Medication, a 2014 documentary video by Vice correspondent Hamilton Morris.[4] The first scientific publications of whoonga use containing ARVs were in 2013[5][6] and 2014.[1]

  1. ^ a b Grelotti, David J.; Closson, Elizabeth F.; Smit, Jennifer A.; Mabude, Zonke; Matthews, Lynn T.; Safren, Steven A.; Bangsberg, David R.; Mimiaga, Matthew J. (March 2014). "Whoonga: Potential Recreational Use of HIV Antiretroviral Medication in South Africa". AIDS and Behavior. 18 (3): 511–518. doi:10.1007/s10461-013-0575-0. ISSN 1090-7165. PMC 3926908. PMID 23955659.
  2. ^ Maseko, Nomsa (18 March 2015). "South African townships' addictive drug cocktail". BBC News.
  3. ^ "What is the Drug Nyaope?". Houghton House Addiction & Mental Health Treatment Centres. 23 August 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  4. ^ Hamilton Morris (22 April 2014). "Getting High on HIV Medication". Vice magazine. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  5. ^ Grelotti, David J; Closson, Elizabeth F; Mimiaga, Matthew J (January 2013). "Pretreatment antiretroviral exposure from recreational use". The Lancet Infectious Diseases. 13 (1): 10–12. doi:10.1016/s1473-3099(12)70294-3. ISSN 1473-3099. PMC 4299817. PMID 23257221.
  6. ^ Boston, 677 Huntington Avenue; Ma 02115 +1495‑1000 (28 August 2013). "Popular South African street drug may contain HIV medication". News. Retrieved 11 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)