Nyaope: Deadly new drug makes its way into Harare streets

Anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) meant to save lives and designed to fight HIV are being used by addicts to produce a highly potent and dangerous new drug — nyaope, an investigation by Check Point can reveal.

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Originally from South Africa, nyaope (also called “whoonga”) has found its way onto the streets of Harare and comes against a backdrop of an already disturbing drug epidemic involving various intoxicating substances.

Addicts are crushing, mixing, snorting, smoking, and injecting life-saving HIV medications just to get high. The drug is a toxic cocktail of meth, marijuana, fluorescent powder, cleaning detergents, and — most shockingly — crushed anti-retroviral (ARV) pills. Dealers mix these ingredients into a fine powder, which users either smoke or snort for an intense, short-lived high.

What makes this new drug craze even more disturbing is that it involves the sharing of blood to get high.

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The addicts are using injections to draw blood from an intoxicated partner and inject it into the next person, a practice they call “blue-toothing”.

Risking Life for a Fix

In the shadow of graffiti-stained buildings in one of Harare’s oldest suburbs — Mbare — a new terror is taking hold. Groups of young men and women, some barely out of their teens, huddle together — their eyes bloodshot.

With trembling fingers, they clutch makeshift syringes and reveal fresh needle marks on their arms. They are the latest victims of nyaope — a cheap, highly addictive drug slowly sweeping through Harare’s poorest neighbourhoods and leaving devastation in its wake.

“Last night’s high was strong, but now my body is punishing me. My joints feel like they’re on fire,” whispers Tinashe, 19.

His skin is pockmarked, and his fingers are blistered from several years of smoking hard drugs.

What Tinashe and his friends smoked — and later injected — was no ordinary high. It’s a mixture of anti-retroviral drugs and other intoxicating substances.

“When you take it, you feel like you’re floating,” says Darlington, 22, rolling up his sleeve to reveal track marks from needles. “But when it fades, the pain is hell.”

The Ritual of the Fix

We watched as Darlington prepared his dose with practiced hands. He scraped a fleck of the cream-coloured powder with a razor blade, sprinkling it onto crumpled foil.

A lighter flickered beneath, and as the nyaope hissed into vapour, he leaned in, sucking the fumes through a makeshift tube — an old matchbox rolled tightly.

But that was just the first hit.

He then held the smoke deep in his lungs, his eyes fluttering, before exhaling sharply and immediately lighting a cigarette, dragging hard as if to chase the high further.

To stretch their supply, addicts have devised a chilling cost-cutting trick called “blue-toothing”.

After injecting dissolved nyaope, they draw blood from a friend — already high — and shoot it into their own veins, chasing the residual high. Unaware or uncaring, they trade blood, risking HIV and hepatitis in the process.

“We share everything — needles, blood, the high,” admits Darlington. When confronted about the dangers of sharing needles — risking HIV and other bloodborne infections — Darlington shrugged it off: “We don’t have an option; the more we try to leave, the more we actually look for this cocktail. We know it’s dangerous, but the craving is stronger.”

Stolen ARVs

While the addicts refused to reveal where they get their ARVs, investigations indicate that most of the pills are stolen from local clinics and pharmacies.

The Check Point investigation has also uncovered that life-saving anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs), already in short supply, are being diverted from HIV patients and sold on the streets as desperate addicts seek new highs.

A single pill, which is free in public hospitals, now sells for up to US$2 on the streets. Some users sell their own medication, while others steal from those in treatment.

Mbare has become the epicentre of this trade, but sources say that the problem is spreading.

Worse still, the drug is now seeping into universities, where students are reportedly mixing nyaope with alcohol for an intensified high.

A 2018 clinical study by the US National Institutes of Health revealed that ARVs have lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) effects.

The study noted anecdotal reports of HIV patients and non-infected teenagers misusing the medication for its psychoactive effects. It also noted that the drug has significant hallucinogenic effects.

Authorities Speak

The National AIDS Council, a board that leads and coordinates the national strategy in response to HIV and AIDS, said they have heard reports of people mixing HIV medications and urged those abusing ARVs to desist, as it is detrimental to their health. NAC chief executive officer Dr Bernard Madzima said it is not permissible for people who are not undergoing treatment to take ARVs.

“We had heard this before. People are mixing a cocktail of substances, including ARVs; it’s dangerous, and people should desist from doing so as it is unhealthy,” he said, adding that HIV medication should not be used as a drug of abuse.

The president of the Medical and Dental Private Practitioners of Zimbabwe Association, Dr Johannes Marisa, said it is concerning that at a time when there is a scarcity of ARVs, some youths are using the same precious commodity as a drug of abuse.

“These youths have been taking these drugs for a long time, and I don’t understand why law enforcers are not taking action. It’s affecting them severely, and they are resorting to stealing medication from their relatives who are already on treatment — to fund their habit,” he said.

He said there is a need for healthcare workers to intensify monitoring of anti-retroviral (ARV) medication collection routines in hospitals and clinics to avoid widespread abuse by youths seeking a high.

Police spokesperson Commissioner Paul Nyathi said that while they have not received specific reports on the abuse of ARVs as a drug of abuse, they have been conducting raids and arresting drug cartels across the country.

“We urge the youth to desist from misusing dangerous drugs and medications,” he cautioned.

The Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ) is on record urging the public to refrain from taking illicit drugs and medicines, citing reports of misuse of cough mixtures and sexual enhancement pills.