Commonly used drugs in South Africa Part 7: Mandrax – (buttons)

Street names: white pipe, buttons, bead.
Mandrax is an old school drug which has been abused in South Africa from the seventies. The active ingredient in Mandrax is Metaqualone. Mandrax was developed and manufactured in the sixties to treat sleeping disorders, anxiety and hypertension. It was banned and termed illegal in the seventies due to the psychological dependencies and the addictive substance that it had become. Mandrax became even more addictive when it was crushed into a powdered form and mixed with dagga (marijuana) and smoked through a crack bottle neck (white pipe). During the 70’s, the main source of Mandrax importation was from India. This was the beginning of the narcotics trade in South Africa. In 1974 a specialized task force was formed by the old regime of the South African Police called South African Narcotics Bureau (SANAB) which was nick-named “The Drug Squad”.
The South African Narcotics Bureau managed to keep the drug distribution and dealing situation under control through specialised intelligence and units focused solely on combating drug syndicates. Unfortunately since then the South African drug problem has escalated catastrophically with all types of drugs being trafficked into South Africa.

The high of smoking mandrax is referred to as a “rush”.
The smoking of the ‘white pipe” which is the concoction of cigarette tabaco, dagga and mandrax powder is instantaneously euphoric and numbing on the central nervous system. However this rush is short lived and the mandrax addict would need to use more and more to feel that continued “rush”. Termed an “old school” drug, many mandrax addicts have evolved into becoming crack cocaine addicts because of the commonality of the instantaneous effect reached with the “rush”. Mandrax is produced in clandestine laboratories (home-made laboratories with no quality control). One of the most common side effects of mandrax addiction is acne skin disorder and huge facial boils that ooze with pus. This is usually a tell-tale sign of mandrax addiction. The toxins that are released from a mandrax concoction (white pipe) which the body cannot detoxify comes out through the skin and hence the skin disorder emerges. The physical after effects of mandrax use are shallow breathing, dizziness, feeling sleepy and lethargic, constant mucus filled coughing, slowed reaction time and the user eyes becomes blood shot red.

The ‘rush’ from mandrax is so intense that it can literally drop the user to the ground. The mandrax addict, with excessive use, will experience body quivering and complete numbness when they are “rushing”. The rush is so dangerous that the user can fall and cause serious injury to themselves.
Paraphernalia’s used with mandrax:
 Broken cigarettes, broken bottles, matches, Lotto and Tab entry tickets(used to crush the mandrax.

By Junaid Khan
Read Part 8 here.