Drugs, drugs and more drugs

Listening to the sad and tragic stories of young drug addicts, their parents and social workers at the Palm Ridge Drug Rehab Centre recently, brought one closer to just how serious the drug issue is among the youth in our townships.

And although some people may dismiss drug addiction as “self-imposed” destruction, it is in fact only now that I realised that many of these young drug addicts just didn’t know, nor understand, what they were getting themselves into when they took that very first puff on their road to addiction.

I heard stories from young boys and girls who were the proverbial “apple of the eyes” of not only their parents, but were also excellent students at school.

In fact, one such young man who was later killed “mob justice” style after he was accused of stealing a television from his neighbours, is said to have even helped his start what has become a flourishing family business for his widowed mother.

His mother described him as an “intelligent” and “hard-working” child who had the potential to become somebody in life in his adult life.

But when he got bitten by the drug bug, his parents had to throw up their hands in the air and seek help at the Palm Ridge Drug rehab.

Sadly, it was in vain as he was killed shortly soon thereafter.

One young man, who, after undergoing rehab, was able to showcase his God-given talent as an excellent artist and painter.

Another young woman who was also duped by friends and peers into drugs spoke to me about her dreams of becoming an actress and a singer, but her ambitions were deferred when she was caught in the drug web.

In fact, there are hundreds of stories of young men and women in their early teens that did not start life as drug addicts.

Most of them started life at school as brilliant and outstanding learners, but somewhere along the line, something went drastically wrong and they ended up having to seek help to overcome their drug addiction.

I also listened to parents, who raised their children with high hopes, lamenting the loss of their beloved children to drugs.

A few of these youngsters were lucky enough to be found out by their parents who later persuaded them to seek help for their addiction.

But alas, there are those who were not so fortunate as they were violently killed by angry mobs who accused them of being a menace to society.

Many more have been left helpless by the ravages of the dreaded drug nyaope which has turned them into living shadows of their former self.

As a senior church elder said, drug addicts need help and not scorn and hateful and brutal revenge from the public.

And while society confirms that drug use among the youth is indeed a new world-wide phenomenon, it is in fact the future of these young people that should concern society more.

Again as the head of the Palm Ridge Drug Rehab, Eric Khalishi, mentioned, drug addiction should not be the problem of addicted youths only.

As parents, community leaders and elders, we are in fact all in this together and the solution to drug addiction should come from all of us and not be seen as the problem of only those with addicted children and family members.

And until we realise this and act decisively upon it, the scourge of drugs in our communities will continue ravaging our youth and destroying their future as worthy citizens and leaders of tomorrow.

Sadly, the rampant drug use among the country’s youth has got nothing to do with colour, race or creed as drug dealers target every young school going child across the colour and race lines.

So, the onus is on us to stand-up together as parents and join hands against drugs.