Online Reporter
Hardly a day passes with no news of a significant drug bust or court appearance on drug-related matters since police launched a blitz against narcotics trade and consumption in September last year.
Mid-last month, Bulawayo police arrested dozens, including three school children, following a raid in the city centre and some Western suburbs. On March 6, they nabbed a suspected drug peddler, Pigors Tyron Siegfried, after they found him with two kilogrammes of crystal meth worth $7 000.
A few days earlier, Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) officials had intercepted a consignment of mbanje worth $32 000.
Two weeks ago, Bulawayo police arrested a 30-year-old and seized some mbanje and cough syrups. On Monday, two Bulawayo women appeared in court for alleged illegal possession of narcotic medicine.
Between early September last year and the end of January this year, police arrested 9 527 people and crushed 79 drug dens nationwide. Of the arrested, 8 911 were users while 616 were supplies.
The total number of arrests made from September and now has obviously grown higher than the 9 527 who had been accounted for over the five months to January.
We commend police, Zimra, other law enforcement agencies as well as the general public for the work that they are doing to clean the country of drugs.
The substances are dangerous to the health of users. They cause serious mental and physical illnesses. They can destroy families and marriages and can lead to jail and loss of life.
Drugs are a danger to national development actually. If the number of users continues to grow, we can end up with a huge fraction of the population being always drunk or high.
Anyone who is in that state cannot be useful to the smooth functioning of society, to any development.
We are sure that drug dealers are fearful of arrest now given the strength with which authorities are clamping down on their illicit activities. Some might have dropped the trade altogether for something more useful.
With the supply lines frozen, we think some users are sobering up now.
Earlier on, we detailed only the arrests of drug peddlers and users and the appearance of some of them in court. That is worth celebrating but we await the decisions by the courts on most of the cases.
As we eagerly await the conclusions of the court cases, we encourage the courts to mete out stiff punishment on the suppliers and users of the drugs.
If they are locked away for five years or longer, that will make the country cleaner of narcotics. That, too, will ensure that those who take the drugs get the rehabilitation, treatment and care they need to break free from this life-threatening infamy.
Authorities must maintain the campaign against drug trade and consumption. In fact, the campaign must be intensified and made permanent.
