29 Jun 2022

The age of illicit substance usage in Botswana has reportedly dropped from the junior school level to primary school level. 

 This was revealed by the Botswana Substance Abuse Support Network (BOSASNet), Counsellor and Media Coordinator, Mr Wazha Dambe in an interview recently. 

He said one of the cases, the centre was dealing with involved an eight-year-old, addicted to Methcathinone or cat. 

“It is a very big concern, it is possible that drugs are being distributed to that age level”. 

 Mr Dambe said although most illicit substance users were youth, the incident of a young child added a unique dimension in illicit drug distribution in the country. 

 However, he said marijuana was still the most common drug, adding that there was a steady increase in hard drugs such as crack cocaine (madaena) and Methcathinone or cat as well as few cases of heroin and crystal meth. 

 “It appears that there is an increase of illicit substances,” he said, added the problem of alcohol abuse in the country.

Mr Dambe said the centre received about 25 clients per month on average, from across all classes of the society. 

 However, he said over 70 per cent of their clients were men, while a lot of females did not seek counselling, which he said was a concern because other clients revealed that there were lots of ladies in crack houses around Gaborone. 

 For his part, Botswana Police Service spokesperson, senior superintendent Near Bagali concurred that illicit drug use was a problem in the country, but said the situation was however under control. 

 He said drug traffickers included Batswana and people of other nationalities, revealing that the police arrested 42 people last year, while 14 were arrested in 2020. 

Supt. Bagali said in the past five years, the highest number of drug traffickers recorded was in 2017 with  72 people arrested. 

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) world drug report for 2021, last year alone, around 275 million people had used drugs, up by 22 per cent from 2010. 

The report said demographic factors project that by 2030 the number of people using drugs will  rise by 11 per cent around the world and by 40 per cent in Africa. 

It further said illicit drug trade also continued to hold back economic and social development, while disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable and marginalised, as well as threatening security and stability in some parts of the world. 

It said that drug markets were temporarily disrupted in most parts of the world during the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, but they have recovered quickly. 

“Nevertheless, the pandemic has triggered or accelerated some preexisting trafficking dynamics,” it said. 

These, the report said included larger shipment sizes and increased use of land and waterway routes, private planes, air cargo and postal parcels and contactless methods for delivering drugs to consumers. 

On June 26, the world commemorated the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, or World Drug Day, under the theme: Addressing Drug Challenges in Health and Humanitarian Crises”. 

 The day was commemorated to raise awareness of the major problem that illicit drugs pose to society according to UNODC. Ends