Drug and substance abuse amongst the youth is prevalent countrywide and police have since revealed to have established that most violent crimes are aggravated by the rise in drug use. For years, marijuana or dagga has been the most used drug in Botswana but authorities have revealed that heroin and methcathinone, an illicit drug popularly known on the street as ‘cat’, have found their way into the country and are quickly taking over.
Speaking on behalf of Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) at the launch of this year’s 60 Days of Action on Crime and Road Safety Campaign that was held at Kanye main kgotla recently, Senior Assistant Commissioner Christopher Mbulawa said drug and substance abuse is a growing problem especially amongst the youth, with some of them becoming mentally disturbed. He said drugs are smuggled into Botswana through ungazzeted points of entry from neighbouring countries and have since found their way into schools expressing a concern that it is highly likely to adversely affect learners' academic performance. “This needs our collective effort starting at family level. Drug abuse by learners is worrisome as indulgence in drug abuse by students affects teaching and learning and ultimately compromises students’ academic performance. The most used drug in Botswana is dagga followed by methcathinone and cocaine and this habit is expensive as these kids end up stealing their parents’ belongings for quick cash to raise money to buy drugs,” Mbulawa said.
He advised parents to be observant to spot character and behavioural changes in their children. Mbulawa said they should also be attentive to what their children were saying to establish if they were speaking under the influence of drugs. “Show that you care, periodically check on them and spend time with them, monitor how they move and do things to establish any awkward behaviour. We need to come together as a community and fight this problem because there are selfish people out there who want to get rich by destroying other people’s lives,” he said. Mbulawa pleaded with parents to refrain from giving their children money as food is provided in government schools.
He said they have since established that since children are given money, they end up using that money to buy drugs, which is mostly sold in front of schools by some cruel people masquerading as street vendors. For his part, Deputy Commissioner of police – Operations, Solomon Mantswe, stated that the level of consumption of habit-forming substances such as dagga and CAT, especially by the youth, is unacceptably high. “Most of these drugs are imported into the country by our own citizens, in collusion with foreign nationals,” he said.
