The rise of Xanax in South African schools: Toward a framework for connecting drugs and education

Abstract

This article addresses the dramatic rise in the illicit use of Xanax, an anti-anxiety medication, among South African school learners from roughly the mid 2010s. Based on interviews conducted in secondary schools in Durban, I argue for the importance of locating the benzodiazepine in relation to other known drugs that include cannabis, heroin, alcohol, ecstasy, mandrax, and cocaine. Xanax is typically seen as a stronger version of cannabis/weed but not as potent as drugs such as heroin, which drive students away from school. Xanax pills are also easy to conceal and, for women in particular, do not involve the stigma of smoking. A second argument rests on taking seriously learners’ statements that they use drugs to distract themselves from everyday problems and stresses. Locating schools in the context of a youth unemployment rate of more than 50 percent, I argue that Xanax fits with the ambiguous position of learners who are aware of the illusive connections between schooling and desirable work but are reluctant to turn their back on institutions that, in the absence of alternatives, offer some hope for social mobility.