The Sunday Mail
Drug abuse is a serious and growing problem in Zimbabwe and needs a wide range of interventions to curb it. There is need to stop people from taking the drugs in the first place, and to rescue those who have slid down the slope or are still sliding.
The causes are many. Few people wake up one morning and decide, just like that, to go out, buy some illegal substance and experiment. There are several reasons someone might drift into the drug culture, and these need to be tackled if we are to prevent that.
One common underlying reason is a feeling that life does not offer much, that there is little hope and that, apparently, taking, sniffing or drinking certain substances at least makes you feel happier and makes life more exciting.
Peer pressure, active or passive, is there. Active pressure comes from friends and acquaintances who encourage you to take drugs. Some of those applying this pressure might well be dealers, who lie that there is no real harm and you will feel quite wonderful. Passive pressure is when a group of friends tell you they indulge and so should you if you want to belong, and in any case they are still functional, so why worry.
Some people are already suffering from clinical depression, or mental illnesses that have depression stages, and really need to see a proper doctor and move through the referral system to the specialist who can actually help.
We know a lot about what happens from the legal alcohol. Many people can cope and enjoy the odd drink, and are not taking the alcohol to get drunk. However, a significant majority drink to get drunk, and they are in the same group as those who take the illegal substances. Many of the tried and tested programmes that deal with alcoholism can easily be adapted for other abuses.
A lot of attention is placed on the youth, for several good reasons. First, they are more likely to get involved in the first place, often because they are vulnerable and do not know better. Secondly, because, in many cases, there are no better alternatives, or at least they think. Thirdly, because, although some can grow out of this phase, a bunch of them will have died or be on permanent medical care.
First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa has taken an active and commendable role, largely in the prevention campaigns that include keeping those who have been rescued, or are abandoning drugs, away from drugs. But she is not just warning; that is easy, but many youths do not listen to warnings. The hard bit is to offer something better, those better alternatives to swallowing a tablet or smoking something illegal. That is what the First Lady is showing us, a workable path.
Her approach is two-fold. First, her Nhanga/Gota programmes encourage youths as individuals to respect their own dignity, to recognise that they do matter and that they owe it to themselves and the sort of person they want to be to live decently, even when life becomes very tough. This is important as a person who recognises their own self-worth can resist temptation a lot better.
This is why a majority of people do not become criminals, not so much because of the deterrents, but because they do not want to be the kind of person who commits crime, who steals or assaults. They want to be numbered among the decent folk.
Dr Mnangagwa’s second and more recent assault on the drug problem comes from her drug survivors’ sports programmes and tournaments, the most recent in Bulawayo on Friday. She recognises that it is all very well, and sometimes useful, to preach against drug abuse, but there is need to offer something better.
Sports, and especially team sports, are almost designed to fit the bill. They offer the excitement; the need to put in the practice; the need to work with others, many from the same background; and give a far more lasting result. The “high” of exerting yourself for something worthwhile, and the comradery of doing it with others, does offer a better alternative. To leave drugs for something better is easier than resisting while in gloom.
So, the First Lady’s campaign in this regard is the positive one; it is one that offers something better, more exciting and more worthwhile. While winning is a bit of cream on the cake, that is all it is. The fun comes from the participation, and we need to have fun through something healthy and worthwhile.
From the comments of young people in Bulawayo, they seem to recognise that alcohol abuse is related to drug abuse, and it would be useful if some of their elders, if not their betters, recognised that as well.
One exceptional lesson learned from alcohol, via Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), is the vital need for peer pressure to work the positive way. AA is the ultimate peer group; you have to be an alcohol addict to join, so, there is no one who can look down on you or judge you. The whole point is that those addicts who manage to stay sober can help those who are starting the long and life-long road to recovery.
So, that testimony given in Dr Mnangagwa’s programmes, from young people who have started their own journey to a drug-free life, is important. If they can do, then others can also, and the courage of those who admit to taking a wrong turning and explain how they go back on the real road is to be admired. They can at least draw the map, as well as suggest others learn from their mistake and not make it in the first place.
However, the First Lady cannot do all this alone. Her programmes are workable and give good examples. She needs all our support. Her non-judgmental approach is vital since condemning is easy, but lifting people up is hard, although it works. Others need the same approach of pushing self-worth and better alternatives.
So, we all need to be involved: parents, churches, communities and young people themselves. Drugs can be seen as an easy way out, at least at the beginning before serious damage is done. But besides warning of the damage, we need to give better options, a better road and be ready to walk along that road ourselves. And it can be just as much fun, except more worthwhile fun.
