Zimbabwe is at risk of losing its youth to codeine cough syrup, as the addiction epidemic has already engulfed what the experts estimate could be over half the country’s young people. Despite the growing problem, Zimbabwe’s government has not yet opened rehabilitation clinics, meaning addicts are often sent to prison or psychiatric wards.
We’ve got a generation to lose if the government does not step up. if they come we give them two bottles, they go back. a sign of the addiction epidemic currently ravaging the country, i wasn’t myself. i was someone else or something else. it’s relatively harmless in small doses, but can be highly addictive. in large quantities, it can lead to respiratory problems,
They were like, if you don’t do this, we won’t play with you. we have to go and get some money, and bring it home to buy some food. with my son, unfortunately, we didn’t pick it up we couldn’t really notice a change in him until last year. and you’re speaking to him and he’s not responding. maybe to buy his broncleer, or whatever he was taking. he stole a lot
Of things – my laptop, cellphones, even food. and families are plagued with poverty and addiction. the country held its first democratic election in four decades. an impoverished area in the outskirts of the capital. who are all stuck in a vicious cycle of cough syrup dependency. four years ago, the government outlawed the sale of broncleer. feiton takes us to the
Local marketplace to show us how cough syrup for the sake of those guys, maybe they don’t want their place to be out, soon we’re surrounded by young guys drinking broncleer. this is for half a day, then you need another addition. you don’t get stressed or worried about a lot of things. every day i take one bottle. then i feel high and i don’t think anything. we’ve got
Some buyers outside south africa. we contact each other. adcock ingram, the south african company behind broncleer, and that, since the product is not registered in zimbabwe, we want to understand what’s being done to help young addicts. there are quite a number of reasons why the youths are taking drugs. it’s hard to pinpoint the exact amount of young zimbabweans
That’s why various interest groups have made their own assessments the number of young people living on the from the information we’re getting from various sources, because the only specialized rehabilitation options in zimbabwe are privately run <i><b><u><font color=#00000000></font></u></b></i> so as an organisation
We’re saying that the legal system should have we want to ask the authorities about the lack of state-run drug rehabilitation clinics. by keeping them in the hospitals, and giving hilton nyamukapa doesn’t think that the ngo is pushing for the government to run rehabilitation clinics, the problem of actually putting those people in mental institutions you are detoxified
Today, and tomorrow you are also craving for drugs. so going forward, we’ve got a generation to and zimbabweans themselves don’t step up to try and find a solution when i started getting serious about my music, i had no time for drugs. kuzivakwashe found a purpose in making music and hence a way out, since we filmed this documentary, the zimbabwean government told
Reuters it intends to open proper state run drug rehabilitation clinics.
Transcribed from video
Zimbabwe's Codeine Cough Syrup Epidemic By VICE
