YOUTHS should be innovative and invest their time in productive work to avoid finding solace in drug and illegal substance abuse, the Youth Parliamentary Caucus has said.
Zimbabwe is witnessing widespread drug and substance abuse among mainly the youth frustrated by the harsh economic climate where jobs are scarce.
Youth Parliamentary Caucus chairperson Stanley Sakupwanya said there was a need for youth-centred interventions such as ensuring that they spend time at vocational training centres acquiring new skills to avoid drugs.
“We must ensure that the fight against drugs must be taken on a serious level, taking in the aspect of vocational training centres as empowerment tools we use to ensure that the youths are not idle,” Sakupwanya said.
“If the youths are not idle, they won’t have time to resort to drug and substance use as a way of recreation.”
Sakupwanya was speaking during the presentation of Accountability Lab Zimbabwe’s research report on drug abuse.
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According to the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association, poverty has trapped youths in the vicious cycle of drug addiction.
Sakupwanya also said there was a need to invest in other areas such as sport.
“The more the youths are busy, the less time they have to engage in drug abuse,” he said.
“This is just an initiation, as the Youth Parliamentary Caucus we will engage so that we have more outreach programmes.”
Government has declared war on drug lords and users, launching a national anti-drug operation dubbed “No To Dangerous Drugs And Illicit Substances; See Something Say Something”.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has called for stiffer penalties against drug abusers and cartels supplying the intoxicants.
Reports have shown that new admissions at mental health institutions are drug abusers, mainly teenagers.