Highfield street party to drive youths away from s...

Highfield street party to drive youths away from substance abuse

Zim Now Writer

Highfield socialite, Jackson Willow has organised a 2022 shutdown street party with free entry with the aim of driving youths away from substance abuse #notomutoriro.

Speaking to Zimbabwe Now, Willow, who is the party organiser, said most youths do not have anything to do to earn some money that is why the party is free of charge.

“The youths will always be on the streets. The line-up is not yet concluded but we are expecting Killer T to pass through though he has a show in Kadoma but mostly we are going to have DJs playing music on rotation until the following day.

“Body slam family is coming and Tumelo Zamanga, who helped to organise the party,” he said.

He said that during the party, they will be speaking against drug and substance abuse.

“We are having a problem in our society. Most of the youths are now engaging in drug abuse hence we are trying to drive them away from these acts.

“It is going to be a good initiative since we are expecting a lot of ghetto youths. We want youths to be around so that we address the issue that is wreaking havoc in our society,” he added.

Besides the street party, they have been playing games during weekends since they have a soccer team, which is usually used to preach the gospel the dangers of drug and substance abuse.

Researches show that Zimbabwe’s illicit substance use problem has increased dramatically during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Besides marijuana (mbanje), which has been around for generations, newer substances have emerged which go by different names depending on where you are. These include crystal methaphelamine (dombo), mutoriro, guka, Bron Cleer, glue and harder drugs like cocaine and heroin among others.

Some of the most potent drugs used by youths in Zimbabwe’s poor neighbourhoods include homemade concoctions, such as sodium polyacrylate or waterlock, manufactured in backyards. The substance, an absorbent for urine in diapers, is found in detergents and used in diapers.

Lately, Ingutsheni Psychiatric Hospital New Chief Medical Officer Dr Nemache Mawere said Bulawayo has a high number of mental health patients owing to drug abuse and gender-based violence (GBV).

About 90 percent of its patients in the acute wards are admitted for alcohol and substance abuse with over 2 000 more with the same problem being attended to in the outpatients.