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Nomalanga Sibanda
It is every parent‘s nightmare and rightly so because it destroys marriages, families and other relationships.

It also destroys the victim’s emotional, social, mental and physical health and can sometimes lead to that individual’s death.  This dreadful phenomenon is called drug addiction.

This problem remains a myth to many until it strikes closer to home. It cuts across the social divide and respects no colour, creed, gender or class. Actors, actresses, musicians, sportspersons, teachers and a whole lot of people from our society have fallen prey to this monster and met their demise. It involves the abuse of drugs by the affluent as well as the poor. Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Brenda Fassie, Lundi, Prince of Purple Rain, the list of celebrities who died of drug related causes is quite long.

In trying to discuss this issue it would be prudent to explain some terms relevant to the subject. Mthandazo Ndlovu, a Drug Abuse Prevention and Rehabilitation Specialist loosely defines addiction as “the abnormal physical, mental dependency on a substance”.

Drugs basically fall under these classes; First there are depressants. These are supposed to slow you down, for example, heroine. The next group consists of stimulants which “speed” one up such as LSD. Another group is that of hallucinogens. These cause an individual to hallucinate or see strange things, for example, crystal meth. The writer’s focus is mostly on the youth who are considered the future leaders but are affected by addiction to drugs.

Alfred Mutasa (26) (not his real name) attended an exclusive high school in South Africa and the expectation was that at the end of his sojourn in South Africa he would emerge as a giant academically or a renowned sportsman but that was not to be because he fell into the world of drug abuse. Today he roams the streets of Bulawayo in a dazed state begging for 50 cents to buy a joint of marijuana. You can hardly liken him to the youthful, enthusiastic, handsome lad who left Zimbabwe with much promise for his future. Such is the sad state of affairs in our society. The sad part of Mutasa’s life is that he cannot be helped as the country does not have a public drug rehabilitation centre. People such as Mutasa can only be referred to mental health institutions which are not equipped to deal with this type of rehabilitation, according to rehabilitation specialists.

The drugs that are commonly found in our society are mbanje /cannabis/marijuana, prescription drugs like amitrylipine, heroine, cocaine and tobacco and alcohol. Wealthier people can afford ecstacy, heroine and cocaine while the less affluent can afford mbanje.

According to a psychiatric nursing sister, the mbanje that is on sale nowadays contains other potent substances that impair the mind leading the individual taking them to become violent and most end up committing murder and other hideous crimes while under the influence of mbanje. “More articles should be written about drug abuse because the mbanje that was sold in the years past is no longer the same as the type sold to our children these days because drug peddlers now add other harmful substances to mbanje resulting in youngsters becoming murderers and unruly”, said the sister on condition of anonymity.

Mbanje is readily available around just about every street corner at a very cheap price of 50 cents. Heroine and cocaine are also readily available from drug peddlers. According to several people interviewed many concurred that cough mixture known as Broncho and other tablets used in treating psychiatric conditions are readily available on the street. Broncho is said to be smuggled into the country from neighbouring Botswana. Sophisticated individuals use pethadine and methadone which are prescription drugs which leaves one with a lot of questions about their source. Some school children also sell drugs to their peers.

Ndlovu said:

“There is a line of use in every substance whether medical or illegal drugs. The improper use of any substance will lead to one being hooked as overuse leads to tolerance levels that will change the effect of the substance thereby leading one to use higher doses leading to the craving for more potent drugs”.

This means that “happy pills” and “stay awake” pills end up becoming addictive causing the individual to seek for more powerful substances.

For most youngsters drug addiction begins at school and at parties according to a former drug addict. At parties peer pressure sets in and it is considered “cool” to take part in consuming drugs because this makes one part of the “in crowd” unaware that it is detrimental to their health.

This young man confirmed that in order to maintain the habit he was compelled to steal jewellery from his family because drug peddlers are ruthless when they want their cash. A young woman narrated how she fled her family home where she couldn’t take drugs and went to live with friends who did drugs. In the end she failed to pay the drug peddler and he forced her to sell his wares as payment for failing to pay for the supply she had bought on credit. She named her clients, respectable members of society, law enforcement agents and school children. Fortunately for her, reason prevailed and she escaped the clutches of the underworld and returned to her parents.

The economic situation has worsened the situation as some school drop-outs, school leavers, recent graduates find themselves unemployed and the future looks bleak as they have no resources to start businesses. This leads a number of them to take drugs to escape the reality of what they face. This ends up becoming a way to pass time. Some have depressants and stimulants prescribed for them by doctors but eventually become addicted to them.

Parents are not aware that their children are taking illegal substances. Nowadays it is no longer boys only abusing drugs, girls too.

At Centenary Park in Bulawayo you find school children sharing joints of mbanje and in school uniform. I remember some years back at schools athletics competitions, teachers would take a certain boy to the bushes before an event and he took a puff or two of what I found out to be mbanje. From there that boy ran like the wind, breaking records. Nowadays this would be considered as doping during a sporting activity but the bottom line is that schools and parents should be at the forefront in this fight against drug abuse.

Society in general, churches, youth clubs, city fathers, politicians and traditional leaders should take a strong stance against drug abuse otherwise we will lose a whole generation to this monster, drug addiction.

More education should be given to society about the dangers of drug abuse and their effect on development and progress of a community. Education should use medium that appeal to the youth. Members of the public should be encouraged to report people selling drugs to youngsters. The executive and judiciary should put in place measures that would give lengthy sentences to anyone selling drugs to the youth.

The most important resource that is needed according to drug rehabilitation specialists is that Government sets up wards in referral hospitals and these would be turned into drug rehabilitation wards manned by personnel equipped with knowledge of how to rehabilitate such individuals because at mental hospitals they are not equipped to handle such cases.

Zimbabwe  currently has no drug rehabilitation norms and conditions, neither has it groomed specialists in the field and has been wrongly handling drug-related cases at psychiatric institutions which worsen the state of the individual as the drugs given begin to create a cycle of dependency as those drugs handle the symptoms and do not deal with root causes. There is a need for the setting up of a drug rehabilitation centre to deal with this problem.

To the youth beware, drug abuse kills. Parents take note, drug abuse is real and drugs are readily available. Drug abuse kills academic, sporting and every other potential in the youth.