​Aaron Skhosana remembers how he used to terrorizes his community and how drugs landed him in jail. The 35-year-old from Devon said he started using drugs at the tender age of sixteen (16) and they nearly ended his life.
Speaking during the Social Crime Prevention Awareness in Heidelberg, Skhosana urged young people to stay away from any form of substances if they want to progress in life. He said the biggest problem with drugs is that it is easy to be hooked on them, but difficult to get rid of them from your body.

“Boys and girls, you must be vigilant at all times because drugs see no class, status or family background, they destroy everyone who comes near them”, he said.

Skhosana said although he started taking drugs in 2007, his addiction worsened after the passing of his mother in 2012. “I was very close to my mother and after her passing, I felt alone and needed something that will help me forget all the problems, little did I know that drugs will only make things worse”, he added.

He said drugs stole the dreams of many people, destroyed families, and cause huge damage to the future of young people. “I was arrested at the age of 16 and all my dreams were crushed because I had a criminal record and when I came back from prison all my friends, most of whom had progressed with their lives, were successful. I had to wash their cars for survival, and it was frustrating”, he explained.

“Sometimes it is because you think you are clever, only to discover later that you are actually destroying your future and hurting innocent people who love you”

He said substance abuse also played a role in his failure to complete matric.

“After twelve (12) years of battling addiction Skhosana decided to seek help and he was referred to SANCA by a Social Worker. “I was tired, helpless and just wanted to do away with drugs because I was committing a lot of house robberies, trespassing and theft”, he added.

In June 2021, Skhosana was taken to the Freedom Recovery Centre where he started his rehabilitation journey. He said because he was determined to be off drugs, he stayed twelve weeks in the centre. After finishing the programme, Skhosana decided to volunteer at the centre. While volunteering, he was provided with life skills and later he landed a security job at the centre.

“I am glad that I managed to defeat the addiction, and I am thirteen months clean. I am grateful for what the centre has done to me”, he added.

Today, Skhosana is employed as one of the Ke Moja Coaches at Freedom Recovery Centre. He said the biggest challenge faced by most recovering addict is relapsing because most of the time when they finish their programme they go back to the same environment.