28 Nov 2025

Communities have been urged to take a firm stand against drugs and substance abuse by reporting illicit dealings within their neighbourhoods. Officiating at the launch of the National Anti-Drug Campaign in Mochudi yesterday, Assistant Minister of President, Ms Maipelo Mophuting, said drug abuse had become the fastest growing threat to children, families and the future.

She highlighted that drugs were not merely a criminal matter but also a moral, social, spiritual and developmental crisis requiring a unified community and government response. Botswana, she said was affected with young people aged between 15-35 being the most vulnerable demographic.

“We are here to send a clear and united message: Botswana will not allow drugs to destroy its children, families, or its future. We cannot build a competitive and prosperous nation while losing the generation meant to lead us tomorrow.”

Ms Mophuting noted that Africa remained the continent’s fastest-growing region for illicit drug use, with over 60 million Africans consuming illegal substances annually. She further stated that cannabis remained Africa’s most widely used drug, while Southern Africa had increasingly emerged as a key corridor for cocaine trafficking to Europe, the Middle East and beyond.

“If Africa is the fastestgrowing region in drug use, then Botswana must be among the fastest to respond,” she said. Ms Mophuting said during the recent Winter Parliamentary Session, government strengthened the legal framework by amending the Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

She said the amendments now provided for drug rehabilitation and reintegration services, ensuring that families were no longer left to fight addiction alone and that victims could be referred to appropriate care centres for treatment.

Government, she said, was also committed to increasing investment in drug prevention programmes, supporting development of rehabilitation and reintergration services as well as enhanced operational capacity for the Drug Enforcement Agency.

Director General of the Drug Enforcement Agency, Mr Phemelo Ramakorwane, said the campaign signalled a nationwide commitment to safeguarding children before drug influences became entrenched.

He called on communities need to leverage gatherings and kgotla meetings to raise awareness, while urging parents to start drug education early at home.

“We are here to mobilise communities to act early and decisively. We are here to appeal to Bakgatla to use their social gatherings to raise awareness about drugs”, he said.

He said Botswana government as part of the United Nations community taken decisive measures to focus on three priorities in fighting drug and substance abuse. The three are prevention, research and law enforcement. Kgatleng District Health Management Team member, Dr Leungo Rayner, said Kgatleng District was battling high levels of substance abuse, but progress was being made in empowering families to identify early signs of drug misuse at household level, alongside community prevention drives and stakeholder collaborations.

Dr Rayner further noted that district health teams were scaling interventions to guide affected families and strengthen prevention outcomes. Kgatleng Central MP, Mr Mpho Morolong appealed to families to fight drugs at all costs, citing the devastating effects they had on families stability.

The Anti-Drug Campaign was held under the theme: Drugs My Enemy Your Enemy United We Can Win. ENDS