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Nyore Madzianike-Senior Reporter
Government has approved a multi-pronged approach under which drug and substance abuse test kits will be distributed to police posts, clinics and hospitals while there will be no fines for those caught abusing or peddling drugs.
The move is part of a broader strategy to curb drug and substance abuse countrywide.
The test kits will help identify individuals in need of help to facilitate timely intervention and support.
National Committee on Drug and Substance Abuse Chairperson Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, who is also Defence Minister, said the scourge required wider societal participation.
“We have imported test kits. So, we are, I think, from next week, deploying these test kits to clinics and also to police posts, hospitals, so that as much as possible we assist those that need help,” she said.
Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri said the testing will be voluntary, with individuals being allowed to present themselves or being referred through community structures.
“Not only are we opening up to those who report themselves, who walk into these clinics, but we also take in those who come from traditional leaders or from the Church leadership. They can also recommend that a person might require rehabilitation,” she said.
The deployment of the test kits follows a directive by President Mnangagwa to elevate the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Drug and Substance Abuse to a national level, leading to the adoption of more rigorous strategies.
“You may recall that last year the President elevated the inter-ministerial committee, which was meant to coordinate the operations of the drug and substance agenda, after several recommendations were made in Cabinet that the problem of drugs had reached a proportion that required very serious interventions,” said Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri.
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“As a result of that position, the President decided to put in place a multi-sectoral committee; multi-sectoral meaning that it is no longer a Government issue. We also had to bring in traditional leaders, the churches, NGOs (non-governmental organisations), women and all educational institutions.
“So this is the situation now. We have a national programme, a national committee which organised itself into seven pillars.”
She said while each pillar plays a key role, particular emphasis has been placed on blocking drug supply routes into the country.
The Minister said the strategy includes intensive deployments from law enforcement agencies and the country’s security forces along entry points.
“I think they have reached a level whereby they have discovered that the issue that we are dealing with requires technology because they (smugglers) use the borders and obviously other points of entry. Some come through the airport while others use our unmanned border areas,” she said.
Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri said authorities began by identifying the root causes behind the surge in drug and substance abuse, before learning from global best practices.
“We realised it was important to employ technology, modern technology, because they (drug dealers) have become so sophisticated that some of them are using even drones, some are using many other tactics, which we were not also employing,” she said.
Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri said security personnel have been trained, with the acquisition of sniffer dogs and support mechanisms to reinforce policing efforts.
Legislative reforms have also been undertaken to support the fight.
“But not only did we concentrate on building the capacity of the police, we also looked at the weaknesses of our laws. In the past, those who were arrested for having drugs were fined $30. We realised that $30 was not a deterrent enough, so we had to put in place a Statutory Instrument to make sure we defined the type of drugs.
“And as Cabinet, we decided that the police can arrest but are not allowed to collect any fine for this. We made it a point that any such cases had to appear before the courts. This is why the judiciary, working with the Prosecutor General’s office, came together and made a decision that we should have special courts. We have upped the game; it is no longer just the police, it is now the courts as well,” Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri said.
“Just to make sure that arrests do not result in fines. They call for 15 years of imprisonment.”
She said the move to eliminate fines followed feedback from the public, who felt the penalties were too lenient.
“We had also received complaints from the general public that fining or arresting people, or handing down sentences, where people were given community service to work just for a few hours, is not enough. We conformed to the dictates of the public, which is why we have elevated all these cases.
“The police can only arrest, but all cases of drugs and substance abuse end up in the courts.”
Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri said treatment and rehabilitation centres have been established to assist affected individuals, while financial support will be offered for reintegration.
“Then the other issue also is that we know that those who are taking drugs, some of them are victims, some are as young as eight years old. We are working with the churches, we also have clinics and hospitals in the fight against drugs.
“Government has clinics and hospitals, some of which will be used to treat those cases that are not very serious.
“This is where we are also addressing the issue of harm reduction. This involves treatment and also rehabilitation and building the capacities of these people to be able to develop their own skills and we assist them again with loan facilities so that they go back to normalcy. So, it is a process,” she said.
Over the past weeks, police have arrested hundreds of drug and substance peddlers, including people of influence, as the country ups the ante against drugs and substance abuse.
