WITH an increase in drug and substance abuse in their community, residents of Lobengula suburb in Bulawayo have expressed concern over a surge in criminality.
Residents are now appealing to the police chip in and fight the scourge. On Saturday, the residents organised a campaign against drug and substance abuse.
The rate at which youths are abusing drugs has grown considerably with residents attributing that to the Covid 19 pandemic lockdown. About 250 drug addicts are attended to at Ingutsheni Central Hospital monthly with the number of youths abusing drugs continuing to rise in Bulawayo.
Statistics from Active Youth Zimbabwe, a drug treatment and rehabilitation organisation shows that the average age of substance use initiation is between 13 and 14 years old in the metropolitan province.
The illegal practice has been worsened by the fact that there are no rehabilitation centres locally and addicts are likely to relapse even after treatment at Ingutsheni.
This comes at a time when Zimbabwe is working towardsa drug-free society through a drug master plan which will help the country achieve Vision 2030. The master plan aims at dealing with drug and substance abuse in society.
A Lobengula resident, Mr Dumisani Netha said the rate at which youths are abusing drugs and substances in their community is alarming.
“We are worried about the number of drug users in our suburb, which continues to grow. Our youths are the future, but the way they are into drugs is so scary, which is why we decided to organise this event so that we can come up with strategies on how to tackle the scourge,” he said.
Mr Netha said the drug and substance abuse does not only affect the youths who are taking them, but also impact on the people around them as they are subjected to the violent and criminal behaviours of the youths.
“These youths have lost their manners and not only are they disrespecting their elders when intoxicated, but they also go to extents of being violent to adults and abuse the elderly they live with. There has been a lot of cases where people in the community have been mugged by youths some of whom have been positively identified,” he said.
Another resident, Mrs Edith Moyo said some of the youths who abuse drugs have also resorted to stealing to sustain their addiction.
She said criminal activities in the suburb have increased recently with mostly youths involved.
“These drugs that are being taken by youths have serious consequences with some resorting to criminal activities in order to quench their addiction. Most of the youths that have been drawn to these addictions are not employed, and for them to be able to satisfy their addiction, they resort to criminal activities,” said Mrs Moyo.
“In a recent incident, there was a young man who ganged up with his friends and robbed his homestead so that they could get money for them to buy drugs.”
Residents said the problem will persist as long as the community don’t nip it in the bud by failing to identify the suppliers in the community.
Ward 14 residents’ association chairperson, Mrs Erica Dube said: “We must work together as a community and make sure that the challenge we are facing is eradicated. It is useless to address the problem and ignore its root.”
Mrs Dube said residents should identify the suppliers of the drugs as a way of permanently addressing the problem.
“The only solution lies in identifying the culprits involved in selling drugs so that they get arrested,” she said.
In Zimbabwe people mostly abuse alcohol both licensed and unlicensed brews, tobacco, cannabis and non-medicinal use of controlled medicines such as codeine containing cough medicines and benzodiazepines. President Mnangagwa recently launched the National Anti-Drug and Substance Abuse Campaign.
National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said collective efforts are needed for the country to successfully deal with the drug menace.
“President ED Mnangagwa has set up an inter-ministerial taskforce but one of the challenges that we face is that drug related activities take place in homes and in some instances, in Bulawayo and Harare drugs are being abused where people will be drinking beer,” he said. – The Chronicle
