There is a new craze in town.. While it has been a craze for a while, but it is getting completely out of control now. This craze being TIK. TIK is a drug that has hit the streets of Cape Town with a huge bang and is infesting a school near you. Don’t I mean varsity? No! I meant school. Tik is being used by kids as young as 12, and worst of all is that this drug is highly addictive, and can cause long term damage to heart and brain.
So what excatly is Tik? Well, I did some research and found this very informative article on Health 24, but if you don’t feel like reading the whole thing, you can continue reading the summurized version on boskak .
So what is TIK?
TIK is a type of Methamphetamine . Well what is Methamphetamine ? Well Methamphetamine (methylamphetamine or desoxyephedrine), popularly shortened to meth, is a psychostimulant drug, and was first discovered in Japan in 1912.
TIK is also a highly addictive. According to the CTDCC, over six months of use, 94 percent of those who smoke meth become addicted.
What are the effects?
Crystal meth/TIK induces psychotic symptoms, such as seeing or hearing things that are not there, and violence. (which we have more than enough of in this country without a damn drug to help people feel violent!
According to users, the drug gives an immediate, extremely pleasurable rush or “flush”. The rush only lasts a few seconds, but is followed by euphoria (a high) which lasts for several hours. Users stay awake for hours, even days, during which they feel extremely active and energetic. They seldom get hungry and go for long periods without food. Both the rush and the high are believed to result from the release of very high levels of the brain chemical dopamine into areas of the brain that regulate feelings of pleasure.
Interestingly, recovering addicts describe the effects very differently. They often describe the high as a state of extreme restlessness, anxiety and inability to sleep. They also complain of many unpleasant sensations such as that of needles sticking through the skin from the inside or of insects crawling on the skin (a symptom known as ‘formication’).
Although the effects of the drug typically last only a few hours (depending on the quantity and quality), it may take days for the body to fully recover. Once the effects have worn off, users hit a low - a feeling of exhaustion and depression. Many people use the “white pipe” combination of dagga and mandrax to come down from the high.
What does it cost etc?
If you ask this question in many parts, you may get a lot more than you bargained for. Crystal meth is typically sold in straws, one of which could cost you between R40 and R60. The drug can be found in many forms, from a fine powder to larger crystals. It can be snorted, orally ingested, injected or smoked – smoking being the most common method in South Africa.
On the street, crystal meth has many names, including “tuk-tuk”, tik, crystal, straws and globes. It has also been called “Hitler’s drug”, because it was allegedly used by the Nazis as a “combat drug” to fuel aggression and to help soldiers stay awake and remain focused for long periods.
The powder or crystal is placed in a light bulb after the metal threading has been removed. A lighter is used to heat the bulb and the user smokes the fumes. Some users call the drug “tuk-tuk” because of the clicking sound it makes when smoked.
Any long term effects?
Crystal meth can be damaging in several ways. The drug is commonly sold as a combination of amphetamines and talcum powder, baking powder, starch, glucose or quinine. These additives can be very poisonous. Because the user never knows exactly what he is using, even an experienced user can accidentally overdose.
Tolerance develops quickly, which means that higher doses of the drug need to be used to get the same effect, and/or that the drug needs to be taken more frequently or in different ways.
Chronic abuse can lead to out-of-control rages, violence, anxiety, confusion, mood disturbances and insomnia. Users can become psychotic, experiencing symptoms such as paranoia, hallucinations and flight of ideas (jumping from one topic to the next). The paranoia can result in homicide or suicide.
The drug causes increased heart rate and blood pressure, and can result in irreversible damage to blood vessels in the brain, producing strokes. Other effects include respiratory problems and irregular heartbeat.
There is also an increased risk of being infected with HIV or other sexually transmitted infections, because many users become more sexually active when on a high, often describing hours of wild sex with little concern for practising safer sex.
Warning Signs?
For obvious reasons, early intervention will give an addict the best chance of recovering. Is someone you know in trouble? These are the signs of crystal meth abuse:
* Loss of appetite and weight loss
* Aggression
* Dilated pupils
* Rapid speech
* Anxiety
* Psychotic symptoms (hallucinations and delusions)
* Headaches
* Over-confidence
* Insomnia
* Changes in dress, friends and slang
* Drug paraphernalia: light bulbs, glass straws (so-called ‘lollies’ or ‘popeyes’)
Entries (RSS)
May 10th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Ha, there’s a craze here with the same stuff, but we call it ‘P’ (as in, “Rangi, your sister’s a P-whore, bwahaha”)
My friend Ellie used to live with some P users. They ended up going totally paranoid, losing hair, skin messed up, teeth falling out, the works.
Don’t do P kids!!
May 10th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
But, is ur stuff home made? Like out of the kitchen? Or is it proffesion Meths ?
Cuz, the thing is Tik, is like meths, but totally local. Like Western Cape Cape Flats style. You don;t even find TIK in Jo’burg.. (or didn’t) Maybe some Kaapenaars flew over to NZ and started getting u n00bs hooked
May 10th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Dammit, I was looking for the article I read in the Cape Times but you have to be a subscriber to access it form their site…. useless people. Share the damn news, especially the damn old news.
There were some interesting stats on the demographics of users in the Western Cape. I think 80% coloured. Not too shocking, the city of Cape Town is, according to Wiki, 48.13% coloured. Youngest users were aged 10 as well if I remember correctly. The article (and I may be way off here) also noted a correlation between increased drug usage and an increase in underage sexual activity. Very inetersting read if the good folks at Independent could afford to share some of their wealth (of information) with the public. Oh well.
It’s such a dangerous situation when a highly addictive drug is made available cheaply. I expect violent crimes are on the upswing (even more so) on the Cape Flats. This is madness!
May 10th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Ja, it’s homemade here too. The pharmacies have all had to crack down on people buying pseudoephidrines (cold meds) because damn P-whores have been buying it up for use in the shakin’ and bakin’!
It’s kinda getting to be a worldwide thing - for some reason this particular drug seems to be super good at hooking dumb kids. In Aussie they call it Ice, drug of the choice for the bogan kids…
May 10th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Wow, this TIK thing is becoming out of control!
Since it was invented in Japan (meth that is), this is Japan’s way of saying “Thanks for everything you did to us during WWII” .. .!.
Now we get rid of all your dumb people, and we get your clever people to come work for us!
May 11th, 2007 at 8:23 am
The Japanese don’t need our clever peeps really, they’re doing quite well on their own. Most drugs are good at hooking dumb (read, ignorant) kids
May 11th, 2007 at 9:05 am
either way.. It’s really messed up :/
While driving to work today, I had to take a quick detour to woodstock to drop off a parcel quickly. While waiting for the person to come outside, i had this old lady come up to me and tell me that a bunch of kids had just attacked another old lady further down the road. This lady was shaking like crazy. Went to go check it out, but they had run away already..
But what are the chances that a bunch of assholes like this, attacked an old lady just for cash for TIK?
May 11th, 2007 at 9:54 am
They busted a farm in some remote place for producing TIK this week. Seems like everyone is jumping on the bandwagon >< The ringleader was a mechanical engineer from America. Crazy shit.
May 11th, 2007 at 11:09 am
ROFL! These guys generate up to R4000 profit a day!! It’s SICK!
July 25th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
I have been doing a lot of research lately on drug abuse, with particular attention to TIK. Like Charlotte Williams, Cape Town’s deputy mayor, I also was very naive with regards to the symptoms of any form of drug! I was blessed with having children who have not been subjected to drugs, but I have a grandson, and he is almost 8 years old, and now with the developing problem with Strawberry Tik, I have to be on the look out for his sake.
But there is some light at the end of the tunnel. We are fortunate in that our business is selling Water Ionizers, if you are not aware of what this is, you might know it under a different name, Miracle Water, Live Water, Microwater, basically it is a machine that changes the molecular structure of conventional drinking water, so that the water cluster (size of molecule) is much smaller in that it contains 5-6 molecules instead of the 10-13 molecules in normal water. This means that when a person drinks the ionized water, it is more easily absorbed into the blood stream which is a strong and powerful anti-oxidant which neutralizes free radicals in the body, and supplies one with energy and lots of oxygen.
If you read about drug rehabilitation, it basically starts of with detoxification, but if the toxins are not fully flushed out of the system, this will reduce the effect of cleansing the system prior to further treatment.
This machine is currently enjoying benefits of helping people who are suffering from Diabetes, Osteoporosis, rheumatism, Gout, Hyper-acidity, Cancer and many other ailments. So its importance with drug abuse is very important, and instead of treating Drugs with Drugs, we are taking a more Holistical approach which is very beneficial. If anybody wants more information, then please send me an e-mail on ##NO ONE CARES## or visit our website on ##www.boskak.za.net##
## NOTE FROM EDITOR! DON’T TRY THIS SHIT AGAIN!
July 26th, 2007 at 11:52 am
Dear Linda..
DOES THAT LOOK LIKE A F*CKING FREE ADVERTISING SITE??
all reference to Water bullshit X will be removed..
gg , no re thnx
July 26th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Lol, pwned that biotch!!!!!
July 26th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
[…] abomonation was posted on our What is Tik […]
October 15th, 2007 at 8:41 pm
my name is tik and i want ur soul. if u try me once u will neva let go cuz im to good 2 be let off on my own.me i let u do things u dont want to do,and i let u allushnate. my job in life is 2 fuck u up and ass i see ive made it 2 tha top.so u cnt do anything 2 stop me, cuz ill stop my self. the reason 4 me saying this words is becuz i know what tik do to ur body, my name is buddy and i can help u stop if u let me 2.
February 3rd, 2008 at 10:59 pm
where can i get my hands on some in durban? Would love to try … Drugz are fine so long as u know when to stop it … Ive tried it all and never been addicted to anything … Well … Ciggarettes maybe .. Anyway i just wanna experience the so called ‘rush’ …. Hey who knows if there are so many peeps using it … It has 2 b good …. Right????
Does any1 know whts the diff bet. Speed and tik ?.
February 4th, 2008 at 8:12 am
Sorry, boskak are all out of stock right..
please try again later.
February 7th, 2008 at 1:57 am
If only my neighbour had told me his child was in trouble with tik.
I might still have my digital camera with all the lenses , 2 digital cameras,
a cell phone , a bag with lots of money in it , etc etc etc How much drugs do the dealers swop for these item? I’ll take my insurance and run and put up a high security electric fence round the property . This is weird , strange stuff
February 7th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Actually use it, it doesn’t have to be good for so many people to use it. It just has to be cheap. Tik is the equivalent of drinking paraffin instead of alcohol. Does the same job, but not nearly as pleasant.
February 12th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Tik is old hat
I remember “speed” being smoked by white suburban kids in Fishhoek , Mburg etc since the Mid 90’s
Now it’s got on the flats and gone rampant and the Media are all like “New Drug” , “Where did this come from?”
“Out of Nowhere” etc The Tick epidemic ddid not start on the Flats it began in the Southern Penninsula Suburbs
and first popped up in the “Trance Party Community” !
March 8th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
What is the effect on the male reproductive system (sperm etc) with long term (or short term) use of TIK.
March 10th, 2008 at 8:36 am
TIK, as the article above states is just METH on steriods or so.
The following link is to a page filled with comments on the topic of the Male Reproductive system.
http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:o84XXG5cNP8J:www.kci.org/meth_info/msg_board_posts/2007/080107/Meths_affect_on_the_reproductive_system.htm
April 1st, 2008 at 5:55 am
dont blame the fukin kaapenaars n i know u mean colourdz for bringin tik in fukin nz!!!!!!!! cuz yall alredy had it wen i moved here!! yea most colourdz are using it cos they arent even seen in there own country its not fukin free there and it neva was i lived there for all my life im not talkin owta ma ass yea its no xcuse 2 use it but if ur not a coloured den dont fukin call us dumb cuz we not!!!!!! u aughta be helping ppl not judge em and i just wana say any1 can quit iv been clean 4 2 yearz now and i was a hardcore user iv dun sum fukd up shit bcos of usin it but iv start ova and so can you!!!
so neva giv up much luv . peace. and no mata how fukd up thingz r getn in c town itl alwayz b ma home!!!!!!!
April 21st, 2008 at 4:01 pm
nay nay, there is no racism or judgement here, i’m coloured and from CT, we’re all mates here
June 6th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
what is a popeye?
June 11th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
im coloured aswell, and im ashamed at how easily influenced our ppl are!
we like a bunch of monkeys who just follow the pack
theres no backbone!!!
we mos wana be cool!!!
June 17th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Thanks, Editor! These treehuggers like Linda Hoyle are just as bad as drugs when it comes to enslaving people except they do it through fear. The last I knew, Water is made up of Hydrogen and Oxygen, neither of which will give you energy, do matter what you do to it (unless you light the Hydrogen - ask Zeppellin!). Water molecules are made up of ATOMS and not other molecules.
July 21st, 2008 at 12:24 am
hi, anyone know if pharmacies stock post meth tablets?? Are there diy options available in cape town to help reduce cravings etc? People remember, generalizations regarding race will always re determine the negatve belief system.. Take a step back and question yourselves.. A skin colour do not determine character.. Culture influences belief systems and so do the level of intellect.. Think for a moment.. You could have a so called white person raised in woodstock.. So does he then conform to his surrounding culture or his family culture??
September 26th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
hi,I am an ex-meth addict,if one can be ever ex…I used speed or tik in cape town since 1995,and have stopped in april this yr. to date almost every night I have nightmares involving situations where I am scoring speed but somethin happens often as I get the drugs in my hand, to prevent actual consumption, and I wake up in sweats. anybody have similar dreams?
October 13th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
i need to know how to help someone that has been using all kinds of drugs, except heroin and have been using tik for 5years. he doesn`t think he has a problem. He has depression, thinks life is a struggle. he is such a good person, but this addiction is killing him and all his relationships with friends, families. I am worried and want to help!!
November 7th, 2008 at 6:53 am
Another popular name for crystal meth is choef..
November 7th, 2008 at 6:53 am
IRIE people. dont choef.. it makes u mal
November 21st, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Thank you for this site, I know it’s serious issues but being an Ex-South African living in UK, I find reading ‘Boskak’s’ story and the related comments a overwelming nostalgic laugh at reality.