(MENAFN- The Post) MASERU – Glue, petrol, crystal methamphetamine, cocaine, Methcathinone (CAT) nicknamed“tsaka-tsaka,” marijuana and alcohol. Lesotho is in a substance bind and youth are most affected.
These drugs, especially crystal meth and cocaine are said to be easily available mostly in Khubetsoana, Lecoop and Sea Point.
Nepo Toae, a carpenter popularly known as Socket, knows all about how the vice can ruin one's life.
Before getting hooked to crystal meth, Toae would go about his daily routines without much hassles.
That changed the moment he got addicted in 2018.
“Each sachet was sold for M50 and M100,” says Toae.
The 35-year-old says he succumbed to peer pressure because his friend, who was a local drug supplier back then, used the drugs in his presence.
“I used to spend my time with him every day,” Toae says.
“I envied him. Little did I know it was the beginning of a nightmare,” he says, adding:“I started using drugs and befriended more people around my area who also used drugs.”
“I smoked crystal meth so much that I did not have time to eat and even if I did, I was never full. The only time I stopped was when I felt tired of smoking.”
Toae says the first thing he thought of when he woke up in those five years was crystal meth and how to get it.
“I made sure I had it...crystal meth involves a lot of cheating when one is addicted. I would even cheat people just to get it.”
He even went as far as selling some of his clothes at giveaway prices just to feed his craving.
“It was the only thing that mattered in my life. I even stopped working and lost connection with my family,” Toae says.
He says he lived at a rented place and only returned home in 2021 when he felt a longing for his family. But he was not too welcome.
“When I went home I would always find doors locked because people knew that I would steal their belongings, including clothes for resale to buy drugs.
“My life was a total mess.”
He says after using crystal meth he felt“powerful”.
“I couldn't even sleep at night. All I wanted was to work or loiter around the streets,” he says.
The turning point, he says, was when he got bedridden in January last year because of drug abuse.
His family rushed him to a traditional healer who gave him vomit-inducing concoctions and he spewed a brownish barf.
“I almost died and it was then that I swore never to use drugs again,” Toae says, adding that his supplier friend stopped using drugs in 2021 and is now a pastor at one of the local churches.
“He tried to warn me against it but I never listened,” he says.
“We even had a fallout because of that. I recently reconciled with him and family after my illness.”
He warns people using crystal meth“to stop because it is very dangerous not only to them but to their loved ones as well”.
“Even though they do not reach to them, they get worried.”
Based in Khubetsoana, Bochabela, Toae is trying to maintain his recovery.
“I feel well and things are slowly working out for me and I am grateful that I managed to stop.”
Toae is one of a few people that managed to stop using drugs in a country where there are no rehabilitation centres following the closure of Blue Cross Society, a non-governmental association whose non-profit business was to help drug-addicts.
Recently, Katleho Ntobo, a recovered addict who wrote a book titled Secrets of a Recovering Addict, took to Facebook to bluntly swear to and insult suppliers of“South Africa drugs” to Lesotho.
Ntobo says he went on a rage after he met a childhood friend who is into drugs.
“He was still wearing formal clothes as he was coming from work and he asked to talk to me, to share his journey on how he started using drugs,” Ntobo recalls.
“The guy is suffering and after I learnt that he wants to quit, I decided to dedicate my attention to him to help him recover. I am certain he will recover.”
He called on the youth to stay away from drugs.
“These drugs will destroy your life,” he says, adding:“Here in Khubetsoana (where he also lives) a lot of people started using drugs for fun and now they regret their decisions.”
“I know it is very awkward to hear this coming from me but indeed you would rather smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol rather than take these(heavy) drugs.”
He vowed to open a platform to interact with drug users once his friend recovers.
“We can meet at least twice a week to help each other on how to stop using all these addictive substances”.
In a report last week, police spokesman Senior Superintendent Mpiti Mopeli expressed worry over the widespread abuse of drugs among youths countrywide.
“It is a major challenge hence we warn the public to be on the lookout for their children,” S/Supt Mopeli says.
“Even those at a very young age use drugs,” he warns.
S/Supt Mopeli calls on the public and schools to monitor their children's bags and school work often.
He says some of the drugs are sold near school premises.
“If we don't fight this, we will have a generation of substance abusers,” he warns.
The Director of the Anti-Drug Abuse Association of Lesotho (ADAAL), Mphonyane Mofokeng, says the group has embarked on advocacy to warn people vulnerable to drugs and parents or guardians on how to strengthen their relations within families.
“A strong relationship will enable them to quickly discover when there is something wrong,” Mofokeng says.
She says most users had childhood traumas and they abuse substances to escape bad memories.
She says substances found on teenagers were mostly cigarettes and marijuana, but new findings show that cocaine, crystal meth and CAT are becoming more popular.
“What we saw at first is that they use them to get used to smoking and then move to illicit ones which are slowly dominating the streets,” she says.
“The illicit drugs market is growing in the country and it's surprising as even suppliers are also young.”
She adds:“It is painful that we don't have a rehabilitation centre as there are some who want to stop using drugs but it is not easy as they still mingle with the same people while they are trying to fight cravings”.
“We do offer counselling but they struggle to follow the programme if they still return back to the same tempting environment, they need a place to stay for a while. We need a rehabilitation centre.”
Meanwhile, the Khubetsoana community launched a movement called Hape-Le-Hape Progressive Movement recently.
The community expressed worry that the village is sinking into lawlessness as many youths take to illicit drugs and alcohol.
The Hape-le-Hape Progressive Movement is meant to fight crime, poverty and help stranded people.
The initiator of Hape-le-Hape, Motloheloa Phatela, says Khubetsoana“is the village known for youths who abuse drugs, corruption is high and we as the villagers want to change that”.
“This is not only for the Khubetsoana community, any community is allowed to join if they love what we are doing and we will be more pleased to help other communities,” Phatela says.
Phatela says they are willing to get help from any NGOs, companies, the Mohlomi Mental Hospital and others.
“We want oneness in the village and want members of the community to express themselves and to have no fear. We are not going to judge anyone,” he says.
The situation in Khubetsoana has gotten out of hand to an extent that army boss, Lieutenant General Mojalefa Letsoela, has suggested a separate and focused approach to the ever increasing activities of drug-fuelled gangsterism in the village.
There is the vicious Manomoro gang in Khubetsoana, a gang normally identifiable by their unique tattoos.
The gang came into the spotlight when it terrorised residents of Maseru for the past two years.
It is notorious for burglaries, robberies, theft, housebreaking, rape, assaults and murder.
Lt Gen Letsoela, addressing youngsters trained by the army at a boot camp held at the Makoanyane Barracks recently, says is worried by the escalating gangsterism in Khubetsoana.
The army took the initiative to train the youths on patriotism and quelling peer pressure to join gangs after the public outcry in Khubetsoana, Koalabata, Sekamaneng, Ha-Mabote, Motimposo, Ha-Tšosane, Tšenola, Ha-Thamae, and Qoaling.
These are the villages within the Maseru City in which gangsterism has taken a toll, with at least nine people having been murdered in 2021 alone.
Lt Gen Letsoela's worry is that despite the army's effort to straighten the young ones in these villages, Khubetsoana seems unaffected by the army's corrective initiatives.
“There are some kids who threaten others into joining them in their bad behaviour,” Lt Gen Letsoela says.
“They should be reprimanded and if they are not reprimanded something will happen,” he warned.
'Mapule Motsopa