Drug in schools’ shocker

MARTHA MAMOMBE

Drug cartels are reportedly using social media platforms to market their illicit products which they personally deliver to entrance and exit points of schools packaging them as common goodies for children, it has emerged.

This comes as a lawmaker has fingered police in trading of illicit drugs and called on the government to take action.

A snap investigation by Business Times following the suspension of eight school children at the elite Dominican Convent School in Harare exposed how rampant drug abuse has become in schools across the country with drug peddlers packing drugs as chocolates and cakes among other items popular among students.

The investigation also involved talking to current and former students at Dominican Convent and other schools who said drug abuse is rampant in schools and the incident of the eight students was a tip of the iceberg.

It also emerged that two weeks ago, police had to send sniffer dogs to another elite school in Harare where there was suspicion of drug abuse.

A former student at Dominican Convent confirmed that drug abuse was prevalent at the institution and other schools and said the drug peddlers are making use of social media to market their illicit stuff.

“We have seen this happening and drugs being brought in and out of the school,” the former student said.

“Some people create an Instagram page where they market these substances as cakes or anything but with weed or some kind of drug inside and they deliver them at the school gate,” the ex-student added.

“It is really everywhere and I think now it is out there because the school has issued a statement and some were caught but it is really everywhere with some schools calling in sniffer dogs.”

Police are investigating the issue of drugs not only at the said school but across the country.

A recovering drug addict told Business Times on Tuesday that the abuse of drugs has become glaring in suburbs and this was leading to reckless sexual behaviour and mental health issues.

Higher and Tertiary Education permanent secretary Fanuel Tagwira said the country’s serious drug problem requires a multi-sector approach.

“People think the drug issue is for police but I think it is for all of us to come. Part is failure in the home, school system or simple peer pressure so we need all of us to come together and deal with this new problem,” Tagwira said.

In Parliament this week, Mbizo MP Settlement Chikwinya said the government must take the issue of drugs seriously.

“I want to believe this is a crisis emerging in the majority of our constituencies,” he said.

“Fingers are also being pointed to law enforcement agents that they are also now beginning to trade in these drugs and therefore we are all exposed,” Chikwinya said.

Speaker of Parliament Advocate Jacob Mudenda said Chikwinya should raise the matter as a motion to kick-start debate over the “national scourge.”