The Sunday News
Clementine Phulu, Sunday News Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Psychological Association (ZPA) says there is a need to bring awareness to the community and the children on the dangers of drug abuse and how it affects lives amid a rise in cases of mental illness among youths.
ZPA on Friday joined hands with various stakeholders to discuss drug-related concerns with children and parents at Agape College in Nketa 7 suburb. The goal was to raise awareness about the effects of drug use and sharing knowledge with the community on what drugs are and what they can do to the brain.
“We are bringing awareness to the community and the children so that they understand what drugs are, what they do to their brains and how to say no to the drugs. We were also sensitizing the community on how they can help those that are taking drugs so that we do not end up with people that have mental illnesses due to drugs,” said Mrs Barbara Meki-Silumbu the ZPA president.
She said at the end they wanted to see a drug free community because they believed that if the communities know how to handle the drug problems, they would be able to assist those that would be abusing.
Mrs Meki-Silumbu said the community should play an active role to assist those that have not started taking drugs to abstain while dedicating energy to those that were already suffering to get help through rehabilitation.
“Children who take alcohol or any drugs are damaging their brains and will end up in a condition that we call ‘substance induced psychosis’ a situation in which one loses his/her mind usually because they will be a brain damage.”
Mrs Meki-Silumbu says this can make a person fail to see things properly, as their perception will be affected, while others even start hearing voices and seeing things that are not there. She said at times these voices give drug abusers instructions which when they follow, they end up committing crimes.
She said the idea to rollout awareness engagements was as a result of a number of bizarre incidents which they were receiving where children were killing their own parents, killing one another and also committing violent crimes that were on the rise in communities.
