Drug abuse: A mental health scourge … Masvingo primary school kids get hooked
HUDDLING in dark corners and unfinished houses, youths as young as Grade 5 are being lured into the use of illicit drugs such as crystal meth, commonly known in the streets as mutoriro.
These dark corners have become the new recreational facilities as most local authorities, with the pressures of providing affordable housing in urban settlements, are turning open spaces that were once used for recreation into housing stands and are failing to upgrade stadiums and luxury centres citing financial woes.
There is now a very disturbing atmosphere in communities as the number of young people who are dying because of drugs and those getting admitted at mental institutions are rising in Masvingo.
Many youths are taking drugs under the pretext that it boosts creativity, helping them to master very difficult subjects but however, more and more learners are being admitted at Ngomahuru Psychiatric Centre in Masvingo. They get a form of escapism from reality but when the drug starts to wear off they crush lower than before.
In an interview with the Sunday News, Dr Emmanuel Maziti, a clinical psychologist said that the issue of drug abuse has now become a pandemic as children in primary school are now being initiated into abusing drugs by street vendors.
“Those who are in high school are being lured into drug abuse by vendors who sell maputi and freezits in the streets or at school gates. Those people are now very dangerous because the drug traffickers give these vendors Ganja cakes, and coloured maputi that contain drugs to initiate children who are in ECD.
“I once saw Grade 5 pupils queuing at one vendor ignoring the other vendors and they told me that they enjoyed her maputis more. These children are now addicted to those maputis that they cannot buy from any other vendor because they are getting euphoria from it. For adolescents, it is because of experiments, the availability of money and peer pressure.”
He said there are three aspects which are psychological dependence, physical dependence and tolerance and if the drug addictions are not dealt with, use could lead to brain cell damage.
“Drugs are foreign to the body and the manufacturers ensure that they produce something that is similar to the chemicals in the body. When one takes a particular drug, it either causes overproduction or under production of certain chemicals and in turn causes problems of psychological dependence in which a person is not able to do anything without the help of drugs. One is unable to do a presentation or even ask a girl out without taking the drug.
“It also causes a problem of physical dependence in which one performs well when they are under the influence of the drug and once they stop taking that drug, they start experiencing withdrawal systems known as bhabharazi in the streets. Then there is tolerance whereby a person who used to consume for example 2 litres of a certain drug with the adjustments that takes place in the body will end up consuming more than 10 litres for them to get drunk.
“Owing to these effects, a person will more and more start to rely on drugs and mostly a person will not be able to live on their own without the assistance of a drug. As long as a person continues to take that drug, it will eventually cause brain damage depending on the drug which is being consumed. For example, mbanje destroys every brain cell and a person ends up having mental problems,” he said.
From January to July this year, about 2 618 drug-related persons were arrested of which 870 were below 35.
During a drug awareness programme that was held at the Great Zimbabwe University last month, Detective Sergeant Netty Kundizeza of CID Drugs and Narcotics said youths are being used by criminals to commit offences which will come to affect them in the future while under the influence of drugs.
“There are a set of drugs known as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) which are mostly associated with hallucinations. They are mostly used at high schools and tertiary institutions and unfortunately, they come in the form of paper clips, stickers. Stickers of LSD are actually smaller and have weird pictures and some parents would sometimes call pastors thinking that their children are into Satanism but they would actually be into drugs.
“Once you take these drugs, you go on what we call a trip which is about 30 to 45 minutes and during that time, most young people are used by criminals to either commit a crime or to make those sex tapes. They will make you break into a house and instruct you on what to steal. If you are fortunate, you might get away but if our crime scene guys come, they will pick up your fingerprints and later on in life after school you would want to go outside the country and you will need police clearance. If your fingerprints are brought in and they match those found on a crime scene you will go to jail.”
Following an increase in drug and substance abuse, Government launched the inter-ministerial taskforce which is chaired by the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare and deputised by the Ministry of Youths, Sports, Arts and Recreation and Ministry of Health and Child Care to devise mechanisms and measures to contain the sprout of drug and substance abuse.
This initiative is anchored on 5 pillars which are the, Supply Reduction Pillar, chaired by National Security, Demand Reduction Pillar, chaired by the Ministry of Youth Sports Arts and Recreation, Harm Reduction Pillar, chaired by the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Treatment and Rehabilitation Pillar, chaired by the Ministry of Health and Child Care and Community Re-Integration Pillar, chaired by the Ministry of Public Service Labour and Social Welfare.