Fighting the good fight
2007-08-02
Lise Beyers
THEY say that dynamite comes in small packages. In the case of social crime prevention officer, Capt Louise du Plessis, it cannot be more true.
This pint-sized police officer has been doing battle with the drug scourge which has taken a nasty grip on the youth of Drakenstein and she is committed to continue this battle in all earnest.
Louise has become a Florence Nightingale to many parents of young addicts, being at their beck and call, night and day.
When they cannot deal with their situation anymore, Louise is the one they call.
“Whenever I deal with young drug ad-dicts, I cannot help but think that this could be my own child. I have discovered that drug abuse has no social class and it can affect anybody at any time.
“After much re-search I have discovered that the first place to start to combat drug addiction is with parents.
“In this day and age the family unit has often fallen apart, with life getting faster and more competitive.
“Most parents are away at work for long hours and when they do get home, they are too tired to deal with their children.
“Many of the drug addicts with whom I deal admit to feeling neglected by their parents.
“Parents must be made aware of the dangers of not only drugs, but alcohol as well, which is also often abused by children.
“The sad part of it all is that parents either choose to ignore the dangers and warning signs, or are often in denial that their child could ever get involved with such things.
“Unfortunately it has reached a stage where parents have to be vigilant of any change in their child’s behaviour, such as eating habits, weight loss, sleeplessness and restlessness.”
Louise is truly passionate about trying to help families rid themselves of addiction.
“I have seen children as young as twelve years old who have just taken a large amount of drugs. When facing them it is as if the devil is loose in them.
“At other times they are going through with-drawal and their bodies contort in painful spasms.”
She says that when she has to confront these addicts, a strength comes over her which keeps her steadfast and determined.
“I always know that the person standing in front of me is in need of help, but I cannot allow myself to be too sympathetic.
“They must realise that what they are doing must stop and I give them two choices - either they admit to their problem and go for rehabilitation, or they will be brought before the full might of the law.”
Louise says that the first step to a drug ad-dict’s rehabilitation is for the parents to confront them with evidence that they have been using drugs.
“They must then tell them, not ask them, that they are going for reha-bilitation.
“The public is un-aware of what a huge problem drug abuse is in Drakenstein.”
It is very hard to keep drug dealers off the street as the legal pro-cess is a long one.
The suspected sub-stance first has to be sent away for forensic tests to confirm whether it is indeed a prohibited substance.
“But in the interim we try and gather as much evidence against them, so that we can charge them with nu-merous counts of drug trafficking.
“This is also where we need the assistance of the public to give us any information about suspected dealers.”
“I am often asked if this job does not break me, when having to deal with these youngster. Yes, it is heart wrenching, but when I succeed in getting a child into rehabilitation and seeing him or her flourish, it makes all the heartache that I deal with, worthwhile.”
Louise can be contacted at 021-807-4044 for any drug related queries.
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