Pharmacy closed over sex booster drugs
A GWERU Pharmacy has been forced to shut down by the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ) after the owners were allegedly found selling sex-enhancing drugs over the counter without doctors’ prescription.
About three years ago the MCAZ banned over-thecounter selling of sex-enhancing drugs on the basis of their side effects.
MCAZ — which has the mandate to protect public health by ensuring that medicines and medical devices on the market are safe — had earlier on approved the sale of the drugs without going through the registration process. Springs Pharmacy – which was operating along Seventh Street – in Gweru was recently forced to shut down for selling sex-enhancing drugs such as Blue Diamond.
The owner of the Pharmacy Mr Tafirenyika Gwenzi confirmed that he had been forced to shut down his pharmacy.
He however declined to give reasons.“Yes the pharmacy is now closed for good. MCAZ cancelled my licence and I have since packed my stuff as I take a long sabbatical,” he said.
The building in which Springs Pharmacy used to operate from now has small to medium entrepreneurs doing various activities such as photocopying.A former employee said MCAZ had cancelled the licence because they had been found selling sex-enhancing drugs to clients without a doctors’ prescription.
“The pharmacy was closed for selling sex- enhancing drugs last week, MCAZ terminated the licence as you see it’s now empty,” said a former employee on condition of anonymity.
Efforts to get a comment from MCAZ were fruitless. Although sex enhancers have been around for ages, initially in the form of herbs, roots and certain food combinations, the recent influx of modern pills like Viagra and all its copycats, has brought in an element of harmful ingredients in the composition of the drugs.
When Viagra, which was supposed to treat erectile dysfunction, stormed the market, popularity of sex enhancers shot up.
There are fears that some of the drugs may cause impotency. The stimulants which are being consumed to remedy things such as erectile dysfunction, female sexual dissatisfaction, penis enlargement, breast enlargement and to increase libido, have several negative effects which are unknown to many people.
Other risks associated with sex-enhancement drugs include cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, kidney failure and priapism.—@pchitumba1. A 62-YEAR-OLD Plumtree man allegedly raped his seven-year-old granddaughter and gave her 30 cents to stop her from reporting the abuse.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the minor, raped his granddaughter on three separate occasions and gave her 10 cents on each occasion to buy jiggies.
The man appeared before Plumtree magistrate, Mr Joshua Mawere facing rape charges. He was remanded in custody to May 19.
Mr Mawere advised him to apply for bail at the High Court as he was facing a serious charge.
Prosecuting, Mr Elisha Mazorodze said the man raped his granddaughter in April after she had visited him over the school holidays.
“In April the juvenile went to visit her grandfather in Plumtree over the school holidays.
“On three separate dates he called his granddaughter to his bedroom while they were alone and raped her.
“On each occasion he gave the juvenile 10 cents to buy a packet of jiggies and also threatened to kill her if she reported the matter to anyone,” said Mr Mazorodze.
He said the matter came to light after the juvenile’s mother noticed that her daughter had bruises on her private parts. After being questioned, the juvenile revealed what her grandfather had done to her resulting in his immediate arrest.
In another incident, a 24-year-old Bulilima man allegedly raped his 58-year-old neighbour after he found her harvesting maize in her fields.
Washington Ncube who is from Mahanje Village in Masendu Ward appeared before the same magistrate facing rape charges. He was remanded in custody to May 19.
Prosecuting, Mr Elisha Mazorodze said Ncube raped the woman on May 3 at around 4PM.
“Ncube found the woman alone harvesting maize cobs from her fields and he approached her and demanded to have sexual intercourse with her. The woman refused and Ncube further threatened to assault her.
“He grabbed her, covered her mouth with his hand and dragged her into a bush.
“He raped her twice before fleeing from the scene. The woman proceeded to a nearby homestead where she sought help. The matter was reported to the police resulting in Ncube’s arrest,” he said.—@ DubeMatutu