Chirinda has a wish: to play social soccer with police officers for them to understand that drug users are unfortunate to be in that predicament.
“We want them to experience the good side of drug users and maybe understand what we go through in the not so good life we live. They must know it is not entirely our fault, but circumstances push us.
"We hope in doing so they will understand that the way they handle it is not the best," says Chirinda from Epworth.
He is one of the drug addicts in greater Harare who received counselling and support to quit substance abuse by the Zimbabwe Civil Liberties and Drug Network.
Chirinda found a new hobby during counselling — playing soccer and is hoping to use it to motivate other drug users to quit.
“Playing social soccer is helping me to get rid of my drug addiction problem and I am very grateful for the life-changing intervention that has made me realise that I was heading towards destruction," he said, adding that he wished to identify talent in drug users while encouraging them to focus on limiting uptake of drugs.
Prior to the new-found hobby, Chirinda would spend a greater part of his time looking for drugs and consuming them.
“I seriously used drugs including crystal meth, skunk, marijuana, among others. I have since reformed and I have my team of drug users reforming.
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“I want the world to know that we have what it takes to be the envy of society but just that we are failing to get the support we need,” he said.
Chirinda got into drug use due to peer pressure.
“At first it was not my cup of tea but with time I ended up warming to it until I got addicted.”
The former drug addict said he was aware that drugs had negative effects and that became his Damascene moment leading to the current progress he has made.
“The fact that drugs are associated with many negativities including the spreading HIV, becoming a robber and generally being a social misfit, gave me a rude awakening and I was aware of how my life was going to waste as a result of my addiction," Chirinda said.
Chirinda said he would use the knowledge and awareness gained to help others kick out drug abuse.
According to FreeWorld, many young people take drugs for a number of reasons, including to fit in or for entertainment, to escape reality or relax, to relieve boredom, as a form of rebellion and to experiment.
The government has declared war on drug peddlers and users in a bid to decisively deal with the worrisome turn of events in the country owing to drug use.
Zimbabwe has a challenge of rehabilitation centres leading to reliance on home-based rehabilitation.
According to online fact-checking platform, ZimFact, drug rehabilitation centres are full, and unable to cope with rising demand to accommodate new patients.
The centres are estimated to be holding or treating about 5 000 people at any time, with tens of thousands of others either not coming forward or getting any assistance.
Zimbabwe only has a dozen plus “big” institutions providing drug and substance abuse rehabilitation services, a reflection of how the drug abuse crisis has worsened.
With the rising problem, some private medical and voluntary organisations are also offering rehabilitation services. But the number of these new service providers is hard to pin down.
According to a Zimbabwe Civil Liberties and Drugs Network (2019) report, the proportion of young people involved in drug and substance abuse increased from 43% to 2017 to 57% in 2019.
In 2019, about 45% of admitted mental health patients were youth addicts.
An association for drug users and injectors, the Zimbabwe National Association of People Who Use and Inject Drugs was recently established and is on a campaign to hype the gospel of anti-drug use.
