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Nicholas Makina Review Correspondent
“Drug abuse affects not only individuals, their families, workmates, friends, businesses, Government resources but the society as a whole.” Marriages and families crumble as a result of parents abusing drugs and leads to them failing to provide the essential necessities to the family.Fifteen-year-old Tanatswa Chabvuta (not her real name), a high school pupil, smoked marijuana for the first time recently with friends at her family home.
Five minutes later she passed out on the lawn in front of the house. Her friends who were not first-time smokers had lured her to smoke fled, leaving her lying there alone.
Fortunately, poor Tanatswa despite being high managed to crawl to her bedroom before her mother arrived from her weekly prayer meeting. She woke up bleary and groggy with a terrible headache at 5:47pm and thought she was late for school the next morning.
Despite her confused state of mind, she quickly, took a shower and dressed up for school. Her mother was shocked when she saw that her daughter had erroneously perceived the end of a day to the beginning of the next day and was preparing food to take to school. Tanatswa had smoked marijuana and it took a toll on her psychological and physiological set up.
Drugs have a propensity to destroy lives and are difficult to let go once you test them.
A major drug of concern in Zimbabwe is marijuana and a fight against it has been necessitated by the fact that many youths and some elderly persons are wasting away.
Cannabis Sativa (L) is the scientific name for marijuana, a name coined by Carl Von Lynne a Swiss Botanist Professor in the 18th century. Popularly known in many parts of Zimbabwe by its Shona name, mbanje, several street names have been coined for the plant and include bhang, chamba, charas, pot, dope, ganja, hemp, weed, blow, grass, charlice and many others.
Marijuana is associated with schizophrenia and psychosis and a number of mentally related illnesses in Zimbabwe and worldwide are linked to abuse of drugs such as marijuana.
The head of the Mental Health Services and Substances Abuse (Drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco Control), in Zimbabwe Mrs Dorcas Sithole said drug abuse has grave effects since it does not only impact negatively on individuals but the whole community.
“Drug abuse affects not only individuals, their families, workmates, friends, businesses, Government resources but the society as a whole. Marriages and families crumble as a result of parents abusing drugs and leads to them failing to provide the essential necessities to the family,” she said.
Mrs Sithole added that often in drug abusing households, children drop out of school and start abusing drugs as well. They subsequently fail to get employed when the time comes and will consequently become criminals in order to get money to buy more drugs.
“If the cycle is maintained no one will work to contribute to the country’s economic growth” she said.
The major active principle in all cannabis products is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) also known internationally as Dronabinol.
Tetrahydrocannabinol THC or Dronabinol is the substance that gives the so-called pleasant euphoria or that literary makes smokers high. Marijuana has no therapeutic purpose whatsoever as some would like to claim and that is why it is internationally controlled or banned.
Tetrahydrocannabinolate acid (THCA) found in marijuana is converted to Dronabinol when burnt. The potency of THC or dronabinol is enhanced by burning that is why it is mostly smoked.
Cannabis is almost always smoked, often mixed with tobacco, but all consumption of herbal cannabis and resin is of the illicit material and internationally controlled.
With the necessary equipment, law enforcing officials can easily detect where marijuana is smoked, as Dronabinol can be detected in blood within seconds of inhalation and it has a half-life of two hours.
Following smoking of the equivalent of 10–15 milligrammes over a period of 5–7 minutes, peak plasma levels of dronabinol or THC can certainly be detected.
Since marijuana is lipophilic it is therefore, widely distributed in the body and can be traced in the blood. Most end products of marijuana appear in the urine and faeces as glucuronide conjugates. It can be positively identified by low-power microscopy, where the appearance of glandular trichomes and cystolithic hairs is diagnostic.
The Duquenois test and gas chromatography are two of the tests mostly used to detect marijuana in suspected cases of drug abuse. Some metabolites can be detected in the urine for up to two weeks following smoking or ingestion.
Apart from sending you to jail, drug abuse brings a myriad of injurious penalties which include ill-health and ultimately death. Depending on the method of administration of a drug, drug abuse results in contraction of needle borne ailments like hepatitis or HIV/AIDS.
Children of drug abusers are often mistreated or neglected as a result of their parent’s preoccupation with drugs.
They are physically or emotionally abused and often lack proper care, and necessities such as food, water, and shelter.
Internationally governments use resources to train their potential workforce which may not contribute to its economic growth as a result of ill-health or death due to drug abuse.
Most drug abusers fail to attain a full-time employment, and those who work put others at risk, particularly when employed in positions where even a minor degree of impairment could be catastrophic.
Imagine what happens if a pilot or a passenger service vehicle drivers such as kombi, taxi or bus drivers reports for work under the influence of a drug.
Drug abuse disrupts economic growth of governments after its resources and the tax payer’s money is used up in order to avail medication to treat and rehabilitate drug abusers.
Premature mortality, illness, injury leading to incapacitation, and imprisonment all serve to directly reduce economic productivity. Some abuse drugs to enhance their sporting activities but not only is it cheating and unlawful, it results in addiction and dependence where drug abuse becomes a necessity for maintaining psychological and emotional equilibrium.
One US athlete Marian Jones was stripped off her accolades after it was discovered that she used drugs to enhance her athletic activities.
Illegal drugs are perceived as sexual stimulants and aphrodisiacs, however, the impact is often contrary to the desired one.
Marijuana distorts the sense of time, and an illusion of prolonged arousal and orgasm is experienced by the user, unfortunately long term use may result in a man having a low sperm count and low testosterone levels while women can have abnormal ovulation.
Some drugs impede erections in man and orgasms for both genders, and can cause erectile dysfunction in males.
Under the influence of drug, one is likely to have unprotected sex with one or multiple sexual partners. This can lead to unwanted pregnancy or contracting of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as syphilis, gonorrhoea and HIV/ AIDS.
Drugs damage internal essential organs which define life such as brain, liver, kidneys, heart, lungs, throat and stomach.
People often use drugs as a way to overcome their depression, but in reality, the drug use can often worsen the situation.
Drugs contain chemicals that sneak into the brain’s communication system and disrupt the way nerve cells normally send, receive, and process information.
They either imitate the brain’s natural chemical messengers or over stimulate the “reward circuit” of the brain.
Some drugs like marijuana have a similar structure to brain’s chemical messengers and this similarity allows the drugs to “fool” the brain’s receptors and activate nerve cells to send abnormal messages.
Worldwide police and other law enforcing agents have been for centuries busting crime syndicates that deal with drugs but the fight is not theirs alone.
Unless all stakeholders get involved in this battle it will not be won. Cannabis and cannabis resin are listed in Schedules I and IV of the UN 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. THC or Dronabinol is listed in Schedule I of the UN 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances as controlled substance.
Section 155 of Zimbabwe’s Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 09:23, says a dangerous drug means any coca bush, coca leaf, raw opium or cannabis plant, prepared opium, prepared cannabis or cannabis resin.
Section 157 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 09:23, states that it is unlawful to possess, use, ingest, acquire, smoke, deal in, consume, cultivate, manufacture dangerous drugs shall be guilty of an offence.
In some countries possessing marijuana is a serious crime and attracts life imprisonment or a death sentence.
Online Reporter