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IN yesterday’s edition, we ran a heart-rending story of a Luveve couple who have been forced to chain their 27-year-old son who is addicted to drugs. 

Mr Aron Mhlanga and his wife Sithembeni were assisted by neighbours to chain Bekithemba to a window after he fled from Ingutsheni Central Hospital where they had sent him, for the second time, over addiction 

While he was discharged after his initial admission, Bekithemba, his parents said, escaped from Ingutsheni on his second return to become a menace to his family and neighbours. 

He would turn violent when his parents would not give him US$3 to buy drugs from a popular peddler with his desperation for a high driving him to rob his sister of money. 

No parent deserves what Mr Mhlanga and his wife are going through but their experience is shared by many other parents around the country due to the drug abuse scourge. 

And just as Bekithemba is said to get his supplies from a known peddler, many drug mules are known within communities but are allowed to continue to poison the youth, turning them into addicts who go to the extent of assaulting their parents for money to buy the illicit substance. 

We reiterate our calls to members of the public to work with the police to weed out the notorious drug peddlers from their communities. 

Recently, the police launched an operation code-named “No to illegal drugs and illicit substances” to deal with the drug abuse scourge in the country and by yesterday more than 3 000 suspects had been arrested.

The success of this operation will also be determined by the co-operation from the public for the police to investigate and arrest drug peddlers. 

The co-operation between the community and the police will go a long way in weeding out drug peddlers and protecting the young generation from these dangerous merchants.

Speaking ahead of the National Youth Day celebrations last month, President Mnangagwa said the Government will soon review the legal framework on dangerous drugs and illicit substances to come up with deterrent sentences for convicted persons who often prey on young people with dangerous and banned substances.

The President said parents should play a proactive role to ensure that their children desist from taking drugs and illegal substances.

He said if parents are unable to control their children they should report them to the police so that the scourge of drug abuse is nipped in the bud.