Editor,

Last week, an intense campaign against drug abuse was carried out across the country. I would like to thank the government, mainly the ministry of youth and the Rwanda National Police, who took up this initiative.

The youth who this campaign targetted are the future of this world, yet  they are the ones who are victims of these drugs.

Drug abuse is mainly due to peer pressure and it’s important to implement such campaigns to help teach most of the young people how to resist bad social influences.
People who use drugs experience grave side effects. The euphoria of marijuana, for instance, is followed by a period of anxiety, fatigue, depression, and a strong desire to use more of it to alleviate the feelings of the crash.

Drugs and alcohol interfere with motor control and are factors in many automobile accidents. 

Sharing hypodermic needles used to inject some drugs dramatically increases the risk of contracting AIDS and some types of hepatitis. In addition, increased sexual activity among drug users also puts them at a higher risk of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

Though drug abuse is not a common phenomenon here, we should do all it takes to make sure that we eliminate even the few cases that we have.

Fred Sabiti
Rwamagana