The past Friday afternoon saw parents turned into learners about the burning issues of drug and alcohol abuse and juvenile delinquency in the country at Naledi Senior Secondary School dinning hall.
Two Detectives from the Department of Narcotics Fauna and Flora (NFFI) brought samples of real drugs and alcohol, telling parents that these were confiscated from students in Junior Secondary schools, senior schools and tertiary institutions.
Detective Sergeant Baleofi Disho started his presentations by saying that had time being sufficient he would have asked parents themselves to tell him of their knowledge on the subject.
Some of them, he said might be the suppliers of the illicit drugs, which are reported almost daily at his office.
“Most of the drugs, precisely 90% of the drugs we have displayed here, are from students. I mean students from primary, secondary and tertiary schools,” he said.
Detective Disho then produced a bottle of liquor and a half-filled bottle of two-litre coke.
“This alcoholic drink ÔÇô Highland way ÔÇô was confiscated from students in English medium schools who were having fun with others from Gaborone Secondary. They used this coke as dilution. These alcoholics drink costs P325 and its alcohol volume content is 43%. We confiscated these drinks after teachers reported those students for beating and insulting them after they got drunk,” explained Disho.
He added that parents pamper their children with lot of money on the grounds that they love them dearly or would like to impress others that they have the financial muscle to spoil their children. This leads their children to ruin.
Detective Disho then produced a package of some wrapped ‘sticks’ the size of cigarettes which he said were called ‘ready- made dagga’ for students.
With these, users do not have to start by wrapping the smokes, but just picked a spot where they would just light like cigarettes.
“This package was confiscated from a student in a Junior Secondary. He was given this package by a parent who told him that there are students who come to school with plenty of money to spend. They will buy that staff,” he said, holding up a smartly packed bundle of about 1kg of dagga.
All this was followed by a display of several tablets lying at the bottom of a plastic container.
“These are called ecstasy tablets. Each of these pills costs around P200 and are used mostly by University of Botswana and other institutions’ students. These tablets are a mixture of chemicals, some of which stimulate and boost their libido. After taking them your children develop the urge to make children,” he said amid murmurs and soft giggles from the audience.
Disho then went further to show other drugs like mandrax, compressed dagga and cocaine powder commonly used by tertiary school students. A package less than 500g of cocaine, he said, costs as much as P70 000.
He produced another ‘rock’ which he said is called hashish. They confiscated it from a student who had returned home from Belgium and then ordered it.
Its package is fascinating, and it is made of various strong chemicals. It can be molded and packed in such a manner that one could mistake it for a precious book.
“You may cut it and chew it, take it with water or drink or any how you find interesting. Then there are other drugs that have recently hit the market. Sextecy is one of them. This one consists of many chemicals, among them Viagra,” he said.
He said this drug is used by youth at sex parties. They start the drinking sessions
around 7pm, and start to undress when time strikes 12midnight.
At that juncture, none of them can resist sexual approaches.
The aftermath of such parties is regrettable, said Disho. He told parents that he once crashed such a party and the participants asked him and his colleague why they were not partaking in the actions.
