HEALTH experts have claimed that the adoption of the United States dollar in 2009 has caused a spike in drug abuse, as Zimbabwe was no longer just a transit route for the illegal substances, but now provided a ready market with hard currency.
By Tinotenda Munyukwi
This came out during commemorations of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in Harare yesterday.
The deputy director in the department of mental health services under the Health and Child Care ministry, Dorcas Sithole, said since the adoption of the US dollar, drug and substance abuse had increased sharply, with 45% of the country’s mental health cases being attributed to this societal ill.
“Dollarisation is bringing drugs to Zimbabwe, because we used to be a passageway for transit. Forty-five percent of all our mental health issues are because of drug abuse, with 57% of all the people in psychiatric wards being victims of such,” she said.
Sithole revealed that the country did not have an affordable public drug rehabilitation centre, and this was stalling efforts to fight drug abuse.
