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A 70-year-old granny caught with $70 000 worth of dagga, barely a week after a vagrant had been caught allegedly growing and selling the same drug, makes alarming reading. The scourge of drugs has left our television screens and has invaded our very homes. The question then becomes, who are these drugs being sold to?
Bulawayo police spokesperson, Inspector Mandlenkosi Moyo, on Christmas Eve made a chilling revelation when he said the drugs were being sold mostly to the youth. Insp Moyo said some juveniles get drugs from well known night clubs in the city or some people who sell them from their homes.
“We carry out regular awareness campaigns at churches, schools, youth gatherings and residential areas. We are out to put a stop to drugs in our city,” said Insp Moyo.
He said substance abuse was rife, especially among the youth.
“Problem areas where youths get drugs include some leading night clubs. We are warning night clubs owners that if anyone is arrested with drugs on their premises, they will also face arrest. We always aim at finding and shutting down the source of drugs rather than just arresting the users,” he said.
Said Insp Moyo: “A majority of traffic accidents involving youths in the city are caused by driving under the influence of narcotics.”
We say efforts should not end there. The judiciary should mete out more deterrent sentences to drug pushers and users. They should consider the massive harm a sackful of mbanje does to society.
Insp Moyo was speaking soon after the arrest of homeless Hubert Ndebele, 45, who was caught with processed dagga that has a street value of about $2,700 and 65 mbanje plants in a garden at Westgate near Sizinda suburb in Bulawayo.
So rife is the abuse of the drug, that it has dozens of names by which it is known in the streets. The names include ikhokhokho, insango, ingedu, inzola, mzie, chamba, dagga, hemp, marijuana, cannabis, spliff, sensimilia and Mary-Jane.
Drug peddlers are monsters who should not be tolerated in any society.
They are cannibalistic vampires who selfishly live off the destruction of the lives of other people. They make money out of misleading impressionable young people and shattering their dreams. Once a person becomes addicted to drugs, all other things in life lose significance and they live only to satisfy the hunger for more drugs. People around the addict, especially family and close friends also suffer.
It is interesting to note that those who sell mbanje seem to know its harmful effects, as they rarely take the drug themselves.
We applaud the police in Bulawayo for stepping up efforts to stamp out the use of illegal drugs. In these times of economic hardship, we have parents making huge sacrifices, with some holding down at least two jobs to ensure their children go to school and have basics like food and shelter. Drug peddlers, once they get hold of the children, make sure all the investment in their future comes to naught.
The 70-year-old Josephine Sithole, on being arrested on New Year’s Eve advanced the defence that the drugs were not hers as she was keeping them for someone else.
A number of people have managed to escape lengthy incarceration using the same defence.
According to medical doctors, “immediate effects of using mbanje include loss of coordination and distortions in the sense of time, vision and hearing, sleepiness, reddening of the eyes, increased appetite and relaxed muscles.
“Heart rate can speed up. In fact, in the first hour of smoking marijuana, a user’s risk of a heart attack could increase five-fold. School performance is reduced through impaired memory and lessened ability to solve problems.”
A National Household Survey on Drug Abuse done in the US concluded that youths who frequently use marijuana are almost four times more likely to act violently or damage property. The survey also states that mbanje users are five times more likely to steal than those who do not use the drug — apparently in a need to get money to buy more.
At the last year’s Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF), detectives from the drugs and narcotic section said a great danger of using marijuana was that, because a tolerance builds up, the drug can lead users to consume stronger drugs to achieve the same high. They said when the effects start to wear off; the person may turn to more potent drugs to rid himself of the unwanted conditions that prompted him to take marijuana in the first place.
It is evident that what may start as a seemingly harmless smoke, can quickly snowball into a family, society and national problem.
Perhaps the biggest question is where parents will be when their sons and daughters get misled into using drugs. Parenting is a serious 24-hour job. The hassles of hectic modern life may force parents to relegate this important duty to maids and relatives. But the truth is no one will put as much effort into the upbringing of a child as a parent. The onus is therefore on parents to inculcate strong values in their children and make time from their busy schedules to personally interact with their children and try to point them to the right path.
In fact everyone in society has a duty to report to the police, anyone using or selling illegal drugs. At the end of the day, everyone is affected through violent crime, traffic accidents where lives of loved ones are lost and development of other social ills.
Doctors say long-term use of cannabis can cause psychotic symptoms. It can also damage the lungs and the heart, worsen the symptoms of bronchitis and cause coughing and wheezing. It may reduce the body’s ability to fight lung infections and illness.
Online Reporter