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Pamela Shumba, Senior Reporter

PLANS to establish the country’s first drug rehabilitation centre will go a long way in helping the nation stand up against the effects of drug and substance abuse, drug specialist and adolescent counsellor, Mr Mthandazo Ndlovu, has said.

Last Friday, Vice President Kembo Mohadi officiated at the ground breaking ceremony for the drug rehabilitation centre which will be located in Bulawayo’s Cowdray Park suburb.

Mr Ndlovu, an accredited professional drug prevention and rehabilitation counsellor, commended Government for realising the gap and engaging partners to come up with a model for drug and substance abuse.

He said the establishment of the centre was long overdue because the abuse of drugs in the country was on the increase.

“It’s a milestone in the development of a comprehensive integrated health based approach to a drug policy that can reduce demand for illicit substances, relieve suffering and decrease drug-related harm to individuals, families and communities,” said Mr Ndlovu.

Some people, he said, have been bed ridden while some have been killed and worse still more some are in mental hospitals trying to recover from drug abuse.

Mr Ndlovu said it was unfortunate that young people were engaging in Vuzu parties and using drugs while popcorn, super cools and sweets laced with drugs were finding their way to schools and being exposed to children.

“As a drug specialist and adolescent counsellor, at times I get referrals from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and the age of the children I see exposed to drugs scares me,” he said.

Mr Ndlovu said the drug rehabilitation centre would be responsible for providing correct information pertaining to drug use, abuse, dependency and addiction.

“It will also be responsible for creating a pool of specialists who will help those affected recover from drug dependency.

The centre will also breed a pool of drug educators and drug counsellors for the young people and their families.

We intend to raise a generation of youngsters free from drug abuse. We’ve realised that ignorance is the one that is killing our young people because they’re in an experimental mode and they don’t know the consequences,” he said.

The expert said families were neglecting their children affected by drug abuse while young people were dropping out of school. Professionals were also ruining their careers because of drugs.

“The use of cocaine, heroin and synthetic drugs where they mix various drugs to come up with something like cocaine is on the rise. There’s also woonger and methylated spirit, which gives them 97 percent alcohol and marijuana (imbanje).

“We’re seeing a rise in the abuse of psychiatric medication, we’re seeing prescription drugs being abused and cough mixtures are also being abused and they call them ingoma. The effects are dangerous,” said Mr Ndlovu.

He said suicide cases were also on the increase at universities due to drug abuse.

“The setting up of this centre will give us a green light to show people that we can deal with drug abuse head on. It will make our 2030 goal for an upper middle income economy and creating a drug free, mentally sound, healthy and productive nation a reality,” said Mr Ndlovu.

He said the country had been riding on the mental health procedure in an attempt to handle the issue of drug, alcohol and substance abuse.

This, he added, has actually made people who are seeking help shun it because of the dual system of the Mental Health Act, which makes victims think they have been diagnosed with a mental illness.

“We’ve been using a hammer in the place of a spanner and as such we have not fully equipped ourselves with handling the issue of drug abuse, hence the challenges we’re having today.

“This has led people to spiral deeper into drug abuse and we’re happy today that we’re breaking ground for a proper institution to deal with drug abuse,” said Mr Ndlovu.

He said the initiative sends a strong message to policy makers regarding the need to develop services that address drug use disorders in a pragmatic, scientific based way.

“The new rehabilitation centre will replace stigma and discrimination with knowledge, care, recovery, opportunity and re-integration. Drug abuse has ravaged every sector in the country, including rural areas.

“Unborn babies have also been affected while the young people, who are our future, have not been spared as we look into a bleak future led by unstable minds,” said Mr Ndlovu.—@pamelashumba1