The ManicaPost
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
“Battling any form of addiction is not easy when you eventually want to quit. Even when it becomes a personal health or a life threat, it will not be easy to quit drugs and smoking.”
These are the words of advice that 28-year-old Rekayi Mulagugu would get back then when he was still in his early high school years and abusing drugs, alcohol and other intoxicating substances.
Up to this day, these words keep lingering in Mulagugu’s mind as an elderly and caring relative would keep repeating them to him back then.
But like they say, good advice is rarely welcome!
Accordingly, Mulagugu would always retort with a short answer: “Don’t worry, I will quit when I eventually feel like quitting.”
Sadly, just like many others of his age, Mulagugu is now addicted, not only to smoking dagga, but the new form of dagga on the market widely referred to as skunk, crystal meth (gukamakafela/mutoriro), alcohol and cigarettes.
If Mulagugu was a bank card, then he would be the popular ZimSwitch platform on a automated teller machine that accepts cards from various banks.
ln as much as this addiction is causing untold damage to his social relations, finances, health as well as spiritual wellbeing, Mulagugu is on a roller-coast ride that is difficult to disembark.
For Mulagugu, it is very difficult to break out of this prison mainly because he cannot even realise that he is locked up!
Mulagugu says his high moments feel like heaven on earth, irrespective of the long term costs that they comes with.
No wonder one drug addict who eventually managed to quit once remarked: “Drugs were the hardest boyfriend I ever had to break up with.”
Financial cost
In a recent interview, Dr Mazvita Machinga, the psychotherapist and clinician in charge of Psychotherapy Care, Counseling Services and Recovery Centre also known as Waneni said: “Our inmates need food three times a day. They have four sessions a day for the 90 days they will be housed here.
“The sessions include group processing, psycho-education, individual counselling, and all this is done by professionals that get paid. The rehabilitation programme depends on individuals.
“It usually costs around US$300 to US$600 per month for these services, depending on the services that one needs. Individual assessment of clients is done to assess the rehabilitation programme that best suits the client.
“Some have mild, others moderate, others severe, while other have extreme substance use disorder,” said Dr Machinga.
Sadly, many families will not be able to afford this cost of rehabilitating their loved ones.
But before rehabilitation, the drugs themselves are quite expensive and this often leads many addicts into stealing, with the end result being brushes with the law or even jail terms.
That said, is abstinence from drugs not a cheap route?
Social cost
There is a social cost attached to drugs, alcohol and intoxicating substances abuse.
This normally comes down to the breakdown of important relations in the home and community.
Mother to one of the three people who were recently released from intensive rehabilitation at Waneni, who refused to be identified to protect the identity of her child said: “His uncouth behaviour caused so much suffering in our home. Stealing from home, neighbours and endless fights with his father, peers and neighbours were now the order of the day. And after all is said and done, when a child does bad things, it is the mother’s fault.
Health cost
Father to one of the three youths, who also refused to be identified said: “I was surprised when I came to visit him here after some time. Surely, sobriety has an effect to our health and skin.
“He is now looking good. He is now the child I fathered and l am proud to call him my son.
‘‘He is now looking good. If you had seen him back then, even his skin was peeling off like that of a snake, but here he is, healthy and fit.”
Opportunity cost
The same father went on to say: “My boy here was a great rugby player. We enrolled him at Churchill High School in Harare and most of his peers who did not even match his talent are now professional rugby players overseas.
“I remember his teacher and rugby coach telling me that in him we had the next Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira. However, all this is now history as he was now a nuisance and uncontrollable.”
Spiritual cost
Reverend Paul Neshangwe said: “The mind is a terrible thing to waste. Please do not waste it. Drugs corrupt the mind. Proverbs 4 verse 23 notes that above all things, guard your heart.
“Yes, words come through the ears, but stay in the mind. Protect your mind. God will help you. One way of protecting your mind is through surrounding yourself with constructive peers.”
Thus, for anyone contemplating drug and substance abuse, remember that quitting will not be an easy task.
But for those already battling to overcome the challenge, no matter what stage they are at with their drug addiction recovery, there is always hope.
After all, it is often in the darkest skies that we see the brightest stars!
Waneni is located in Mutare.
