The fight against drug and substance abuse is being derailed by lack of policies to facilitate progressive moves that promote public health systems, a local pressure group has said.
In a statement this week, Zimbabwe Civil Liberties Drugs Network executive director Wilson Box said there was a big gap in the anti-drug fight.
He also noted that a lack of treatment services for people who use and inject drugs was another challenge impeding the fight.
“Our policies do not promote health among people that use drugs. There must be a policy promoting public health instead of criminalisation,” Box said.
“Our country does not have specialist treatment centres for people who use and inject drugs. Drug users are not mental patients.
“In Zimbabwe, drug users are admitted to mental health institutions instead of drop in centres that offer specialised treatment for people who use and inject drugs.”
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Box said the anti-drug abuse fight was also facing challenges due to lack of knowledge on how to handle drug use challenges in Zimbabwe.
“We have had knee-jack reactions used to deal with drug use challenges. People who use and inject drugs have rights and deserve dignity,” he said.
“We use emotions to deal with people who use and inject drugs. Arrests should not be the only indicator to measure success on controlling substance and drug use. We should also look at how many people have been treated from substance use to determine the success of a policy.”
The Zimbabwe Republic Police recently deployed drugs and narcotics officers across the country’s 10 provinces as authorities intensify the fight against drug smuggling and substance abuse.
Police national spokesperson Commissioner Paul Nyathi said decentralisation would help law enforcement agents to keep “an eagle’s eye” on border activities, particularly drug smuggling.
“We have crack teams and we also have decentralised all the activities of drugs and narcotics to all provinces, districts and all border sections,” Nyathi said.
In April, the crackdown on drug and substance abuse had netted 6 148 people since January this year.