Zanzibar govt implored on help for drug addicts

BY MALELA KASSIM

27th November 2013.

Suleiman Mauly

Despite contributing a lot to Zanzibar’s economy, the tourism sector has been mentioned as being among the main causes of growing drug abuse among youth in the Isles.

Various reports hold that Stone Town and the northern region (Arusha and others), where most tourist resorts are located, as the most affected areas.

Speaking in Dar es Salaam in an exclusive interview with The Guardian, Suleiman Mauly, a former drug addict who now runs a network of rehabilitation centres across Zanzibar noted that the presence of many visitors on the isles have increased availability of drugs among youth.
“Tourism has fuelled the use of drugs among the youth through assimilation of foreign cultures, especially from the west characterised by a lot of fun and luxuries. As a result of worshiping these luxuries youth find themselves addicted to drugs,’’ he noted.

“Although the sector has paved way to the employment of a number of youth in the Island, some have been misusing the money they earn from the sector to buy drugs and that is why places with tourist attractions have got a good number of drug addicts,’’ he said.

He cited unemployment, lack of education and poverty, especially among youths as key factors that also contribute to the drug problem in Zanzibar.
“Most of the addicts are young men who inject themselves with a cocktail of heroin and cocaine,’’ he says.

Mauly urged the government to deploy former drug addicts in different rehabilitation centres so that they can help youths who are addicted.

“Those who have recovered from drug addiction are more aware of the problem and how to treat the addicts than those who have never experienced the problem. Since we former addicts have proven that we can do the job better, why can’t the government deploy us in order to help our fellows?’’ he asked.

According to him his rehabilitation centres in the Island called Sober Houses have enabled more than eight thousands youths to recover from drug addiction.

Recent surveys show that there are nearly 10,000 drug users among the islands’ population of over one million people. That would mean one percent of the islanders use drugs. That puts Zanzibar’s usage amongst the highest in the world, compared to rates in other countries recorded in the UN’s World Drug Report 2011. 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN