adminMutsawashe Mashandure
Herald Correspondent
A call to end the scourge of drug and substance abuse is growing louder by the day with various stakeholders including medical doctors, psychologists, psychiatric and top Government officials yesterday exchanging notes.
The conference which was being held under the theme; “Drugs and substance abuse” at a local hotel in Harare was meant to highlight drug and substance abuse issues to youths.
A victim of drug abuse a lady only identified as Thelma shared her personal experience on how drugs once made her a slave.
She is now recovering from being a drug addict at Mubatirapamwe home.
“I can tell you that I feel more human than I was before for the last 5 years. I used to take drugs while staying in Chitungwiza coming back home late.
“We used to camp at a base where boys sexually abused us since we had no choice. We were forced to love because we had no choice and we did not report to the police in fear of being arrested since we were drug addicts,” she said.
Thelma urged fellow youths to desist from taking drugs when faced with difficult situations.
Speaking at the event an official from the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation Mr Author Munyarikwa said drug and substance abuse affects those who are primarily frequent users.
“So what we are doing as a ministry is to sensitise our youth to stop drug and substance abuse through awareness campaigns in various places across the country,” he said.
Mr Munyarikwa said drug and substance abuse inflicts immeasurable harm on public health and safety in Zimbabwe.
“In some circumstances substance abuse contributes to crime and poverty leading to dysfunctional families and communities, while also the burden of disease, injury and premature death is also increased.
“Additionally, the drug scourge puts a financial strain on affected individuals, their families and the nation at large,” he said.
Some of the adopted resolutions from the meeting included the need to support youths taking drugs by educating them on the side effects of drug and substance abuse.
Others included a project named Mubatirapamwe which is pushing to promote sound family relations.
Also to have more psychiatric centres that deal with drug addicts in Zimbabwe, free centres for health and mental health promotion in the society.
Couples were also urged to engage in peaceful dispute resolution and men to open up on issues affecting them.
An official from the police CID drug and narcotics said robust and proactive initiatives will continue to be deployed by the security apparatus to prevent the production, manufacture and supply of illegal drugs.
The police said other initiatives will be deployed including to ban precursor chemicals used for manufacturing and processing of various synthetic drugs and harmful substances.
“At both national and sub-national levels, the inter-ministerial task force on drug and substance abuse was established to coordinate the fight against this scourge.
“Since then, robust strategies have been deployed to curb the production, manufacturing and distribution of drugs.”
Online Reporter