The selling and consumption of illicit drugs is reported to be rife in Bulawayo, the country’s second-largest city.
According to a Sunday News report, the drugs, which comprise prescription medicines and other illegal substances, are smuggled into the country from South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia and Tanzania.
Drugs peddlers get their supplies from drug lords in the stated countries. The drugs are then sold within the city’s CBD, residential areas and even at schools.
A Sunday News source who is said to be an addict is quoted as saying:
They can be found at clustered parts of the CBD, areas such as 6th Avenue where there are touts and vendors.
At 12th Avenue, you can find them operating near a Honda Fit taxi rank. At 1st Avenue, there is a lot of activity there as there are brothels and prostitutes and also the market area.
Some operate near the city centre swimming pool. Some of them have invaded places like recreational parks, and schoolchildren are not spared.
Some mostly rely on regular clients who call them when they want to get high. If you are a new customer you have to be referred by someone.
So they keep their drugs in cars and deliver them to clients to avoid being arrested.
They also even have runners at schools who supply schoolchildren with drugs.
In Western suburbs, cheap drugs are mostly peddled. These include broncleer and mbanje. Added the publication’s source:
There are cheap drugs found in the ghetto such as broncleer and mbanje. These are very common among the youths and also the unemployed.
They can mostly be found at drug dealers’ houses and points such as shopping areas, where vendors operate from. This is where cheap drugs such as broncleer, mbanje and some prescription medicines are found.
Some youths reportedly go as far as prescription drugs such as diazepam, affects chemicals in the brain that is used to treat anxiety disorders.