The ManicaPost
Rutendo Jiri
Correspondent
THE past few days, the media has been awash with stories over the arrest of three suspected drug peddlers, Natasha Gamuchirai Chari (23), Gertrude Glenara (21) and Kudakwashe Charles Mapara (25) by the police.
Chari and Glenara who later implicated Mapara were arrested after a high speed chase in central Harare.
Before implicating Mapara, the girls were caught with crystal meth worth approximately USD$15 000.
Upon raiding Mapara’s home, police recovered two more crystal meth sachets and 108 grammes of dagga worth $9 000.
This is a victory in the ongoing fight against drug abuse by youths and the fight against crystal meth- a relatively new drug which has been on the market for less than three years.
What makes crystal meth a danger to society is that a sachet goes for between US$3 and US$5, and for that reason, it is affordable by a majority of youths who abuse it as even a small hustle can afford a sachet or two for the day.
But the low accessibility cost comes at a huge price as crystal meth lit by a cigarette lighter and inhaled through a straw is highly addictive.
It is responsible for the unruly behaviour (zombification) of most ghetto youths.
A story published by an online news website suggested that the major cause of drug abuse among youths is unemployment whose effects have increasingly been felt under the Covid-19 induced lockdown.
“We were at home, had nothing to do, so we ended up taking drugs to forget our troubles. Doing drugs is a way of healing the pain and stress of being unproductive,” the lanky fellow said. “When I take crystal meth, I get lots of energy,” a youth was quoted saying.
However, unlike the youths to whom they sold their drugs to, the story of Chari and Glenara was a fairytale if one is to view their social media Facebook and Instagram accounts.
The girls lived a fast paced Hollywood like lifestyle, dressing and eating well to the chagrin and envy of fellow age mates at the University of Zimbabwe where they are currently enrolled.
What is apparent is that these girls and their accomplice were making a lot of money and could take good care of themselves, but the downside is that they are responsible for the moral and spiritual decadence of the many youthful souls they allegedly sold drugs to and drove into addiction and paralysis!
Some youngsters have died of drug overdose and the trio could be partly responsible.
After the trio was caught, Zimbabweans took to social media to express their views over the proliferation of drug abuse in the country and to share their judgement on the trio.
A popular Twitterratti @ShadayaKnight with 92 600 followers said the courts and citizens should not show the slightest sympathy for the slay queens who want to use the trump card that they were being “used” as drug peddlers by some rich business and political elites.
“Reading this story about 2 slay queens who were being ‘used’ as drug runners by some rich dud! And to be honest, no sympathy whatsoever, they were never forced, it was their greed for a comfortable life through shortcuts that has led them to a prison . . . ” said Shadaya.
“At no point should we ever feel any sympathy for such women whom we read about in the tabloids about having been used and abused by rich men,” he added.
“I happen to share the same sentiments with Shadaya that these women and others like them knew exactly what they were doing and should dance to the music because they and others like them whom we hope our vigilant police force would bring to book are a menace to society”.
However, to combat the scourge of drug and alcohol abuse, the onus is on Government to come up with youth friendly programmes especially sprouting vocational training programmes that can equip youths with life skills so they will not be idle.
It even speaks to how there is need to shift curriculum from largely theory related university programmes which subject youths to being employees instead of being their own employers through innovation.
In this regard Government is doing well to transform the education curricular to make it more responsive to the current market demands for innovation.
As we head towards the 2023 elections, a drug and alcohol abuse free youthful generation would best make informed voting decisions.
