Seithati Motsoeneng
AS Basotho youth alarmingly slip down the dark abyss of drug abuse, with teenagers and young adults living primarily in urban slums across the country hooked on narcotics, three civic groups and the government have begun making concerted efforts to try and curb the scourge.
Heal Our Land Organization (HOLO), Lab24 and Rebohealth, together with the Ministry of Education and Training have launched an anti-drug campaign targeting primary and high schools.
The initiative was launched last week Wednesday morning with a drug testing program at Lesia High School with more than four hundred parents and guardians of scholars, signing consent forms for their children to be tested for any sort of drug use.
The tests were conducted using urine and oral swabs from students, and results are expected to be released within two weeks.
The campaign is intended to reach all school across Lesotho. Scholars will be tested for traces of drug and substance use.
In a brief interview with the Lesotho Times on the day, National Program Director from Rebohealth Addiction Treatment Clinic, HOLO’s implementing partner, Teboho Bulane, said that due to the high rate of drug use in young children and the youth, the organization felt compelled “to do something about the issue before it gets out of hand”.
“A year ago, we were implored by HOLO to do a psychological survey in schools located in Morija and Matsieng, both primary and high schools, and the findings of the survey on the use of drugs use in scholars were shocking,” Dr Bulane said.
He said it was during that survey that they realized the alarming rate of early use of drugs by young people. Some started using drugs from as early as grade four.
“It was shocking for me to sit with a grade four student and be told that at that tender age, the child is already hooked to various drugs,” Dr Bulane said.
Although children used substances for various reasons, most were found to be from wealthy backgrounds and dysfunctional families.
He said their shock at the scourge had spurred them into action. They were determined to help parents and teachers, detect early use of drugs in pupils and provide solutions.
Dr Bulane said drug use in schools was real. Allowing the cancer to eat away at children would be a travesty. Lesotho was moving at full speed in drug abuse. Without concerted efforts at detection, he said, drug and substance abuse in this country would become a crisis as it already was in South Africa.
“For students who will have tested positive when the results come out, they shall be rehabilitated at home, or taken to rehabilitation centers depending on the status of the tests,” Dr Bulane said.
Dr Bulane emphasized that before the rehabilitation process starts, further clinical tests would be conducted for thorough testing to avoid any medical flops that may occur.
His organization was ready to clean up Lesotho schools, which he described as having seemingly “become drug pits for users and drug dealers”.
