Cat can be made in a kitchen using common household products. A gram costs about R4,00 to make and sells for a minimum of R250,00 a gram in nightclubs around the country.
Meanwhile, doctors told the Sunday Times that cat was lethal.
Cape Town trauma doctor Dr Kurt Minnie said the drug contained Chromium Six – a chemical that caused liver and kidney failure, hepatitis and lung cancer. Minnie said Chromium Six was the subject of Erin Brockovich , which told the story of a small US town where residents suffered from various cancers.
The residents received a $330-million settlement from the Pacific Gas&Electric Company, which was found to have contaminated the community’s drinking water with Chromium Six.
Consulting forensic scientist Dr David Klatzow said Chromium Six caused cancer and was toxic. He said it was absorbed into the bloodstream through the mucous membranes in the nose after the user “snorted” it.
Once it is in the blood, the drug travels to the brain where it interferes with the chemical functioning and nerve endings.
It also causes the over-production of adrenaline, which increases the user’s heart rate.
Cat is then processed by liver and excreted through the kidneys. This, said Klatzow, could cause possible liver and kidney damage.
“It is many orders of magnitude more toxic than alcohol,” he said.
YOUNG WOMAN IS ‘CATS’S FIRST VICTIM
Nicki Padayachee
A 20-year-old woman from Cape Town became cat’s first South African victim when she died after taking a lethal dose of the drug at a rave in the city two months ago.
Paramedic Craig Northmore said he found the semi-conscious woman after being called to a rave one night in August.
“She was unresponsive and her heart rate was 170 beats a minute. A heart rate if between 60 and 100 beats a minute is acceptable.
Her heart rate then escalated to 220 beats a minute.
Northmore said the young woman’s friends told him that she had taken cat to “calm down” after hallucinating on ecstasy and LSD.
“She was hallucinating terribly and a friend suggested that she take some cat to calm down. She then snorted about half a gram of the stuff.
The drug caused her heart rate to spiral out of control.
After being treated by Northmore, the woman was admitted to hospital where she was given the hospital’s entire supply – 30 times the regular dose – of a drug used to reduce the heart rate of patients with heart disease.
It had no effect and the woman died of heart failure.
Northmore said cat was fast becoming a problem in the Mother City. “We are seeing this now on a daily basis. The drug scene in Cape Town is getting out of hand,” he said.
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| LO 3.2 | |
| LO 3.10 |
FOR THE BRAVE!
Briefly summarise the main ideas of the longer article by means of a mind map.
| LO 3.4.1 |
SPELLING 1
Match the –ery or –ary endings to the beginnings of these words.
Use a reliable dictionary when checking your answers!
Rewrite these words in two columns, placing the words with similar endings together.