STAFF WRITER
DRUG and substance abuse in the country has reached alarming levels, with more and more young people being exposed to the scourge, an expert has said.
Speaking to the Daily News — the country’s most influential newspaper — senior clinical psychologist Farzana Naeem also revealed yesterday that drugs were now being sold in the open by street vendors in urban areas.
“In Zimbabwe, we are increasingly seeing children as young as 11 experimenting with substances. “Many of these are bought from street vendors or smuggled into informal settlements.
“In the past five years, there has been a spike in cases, especially in urban areas like Harare, Bulawayo and Chitungwiza.
“The main drivers of this include poverty, unemployment, peer influence and lack of parental supervision, especially in high-density suburbs,” Naeem told the Daily News.
“Easy access to cheap substances like broncleer (codeine syrup) and glue is making things worse. “These children are losing focus in school, becoming emotionally unstable, and in some cases getting involved in petty crime or early sexual activity.
“The most commonly abused substances among youth include alcohol, glue, cannabis (mbanje), crystal meth (mutoriro) and cough syrups like broncleer and histalix,” Naeem — who is also the founder of Gateway Mental Health and Rehabilitation — added.
She emphasised the need for the government to invest in new rehabilitation centres and to capacitate existing ones, while also raising awareness in schools.
This comes after other experts recently told the Daily News’ sister paper, the Daily News On Sunday, the drugs problem had become a “humanitarian disaster, “pandemic” and “national emergency”.
It also comes after authorities recently arrested and convicted 41 notorious drug barons who were running amok around the country — destroying the future of the nation.
The executive director of the Community Working Group on Health (CWGH), Itai Rusike, was among those who said drug and substance abuse in the country had become a “humanitarian disaster” that needed urgent intervention.
“The drug abuse situation in Zimbabwe is now a humanitarian disaster that is inflicting harm to the young generation — perpetuating violence and poverty, especially among the low-income and vulnerable communities.
“Among other things, we need a comprehensive school health programme that is well supported by the Ministry of Health because this issue can wipe out an entire generation if it’s not addressed urgently.
“Instead of criminalising drug users, there is a need to focus on social support structures to mitigate our current problems that are resulting in the surging of drug abuse and deaths.
“The government should invest in proven services and care to address substance use and unmet mental health needs,” Rusike said then.
