Pubdate: Sun, 20 Jul 2003
Source: Times Of Zambia (Zambia)
Copyright: 2003 Times Of Zambia
Contact:  http://www.times.co.zm/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2871
Author: Richard Mulonga
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)

DRUGS CAMPAIGN NOW GOES TO LUSAKA PRISONS

IT seems the battle against drug trafficking and abuse in Zambia is
fast being won, thanks to the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC).

Already, there is an increasing number of locals and foreign nationals
who have been arrested on offenses of drug trafficking. And many more
are being arrested.

This year especially, the crusade has witnessed the incarceration of a
good number of individuals from different walks of life who push drugs
with the aim of making quick bucks.

But despite the successes that DEC could easily boast of in keeping
the drug scourge under its feet, the big question remains: Why has DEC
failed to penetrate the prison walls where illicit drug and narcotic
substance abuse occurs at its worst?

It is indisputable that the psychosocial stress resulting from the
poor prison environment and uncertainty of the outcome of their cases
from the courts often causes inmates to use drugs as a coping strategy.

Some, it has been learnt, use drugs to cause adjournments of their
cases at the courts by exhibiting strange or riotous behaviour.

Inmates administer different intoxicating substances fermented from
all kinds of materials available, including human excreta, as a coping
strategy.

It has thus been realised that prisons are not systematically covered
in all drug education programmes.

With that, the DEC has started to drill the prison walls to educate
inmates on drugs. A commendable move indeed.

Like US President George Bush would vow never to rest until the law is
taken to terrorists wherever they are should they refuse to come
before it, the DEC has declared an education campaign to sweep drugs
and other intoxicating substances from the floors of all prisons.

Being conducted in conjunction with the Swedish government, an
anti-drug crusade called "prison drug sensitisation programme"
envisages to equip inmates with knowledge on the legal, religious,
social and health implications of drug abuse.

The programme, on a pilot phase, registered much of its progress early
this year and targets inmates in seven Zambian prisons with an
estimated budget of K290 million.

It has continued to score marks in prisons around the Copperbelt,
Chipata, Livingstone and Kabwe. In Lusaka, however, the programme
started with a capacity building and planning workshop for members of
the steering committee in March this year to map out a strategy of
transmitting the anti-drug knowledge to the inmates.

But in April, the regional steering committee put the road-map into
actual practice when an on-the-spot visit to Lusaka Central Prison
(Chimbokaila) was undertaken as an introduction to the programme.

The team, comprising DEC and Lusaka division prison officers, health
personnel, Prisons Care and Counselling Association (Priscca) and
Lusaka region Prison Fellowship representatives was met with pockets
of resistance from the inmates.

Some prisoners were skeptical about it because they thought it was one
of DEC's strategies of cornering drug traffickers and users.

"Your mission here is suspicious. You are talking about educating
prisoners about drugs when there are DEC officers among you who arrest
drug traffickers.

"Tell us your true mission because you can bring trouble to us. Do you
want us to say some prisoners here use drugs when there are DEC
officers," one courageous inmate told the committee.

What he did not realise, however, was the fact that his statement had
actually confirmed that drug use was prevalent at the prison.

Priscca co-ordinator Geoffrey Malembeka, who is an ex-convict from the
same prison, convinced the inmates on the genuineness of the mission;
that it was purely intended to educate them on the effects of drug
use.

He noted that the DEC was not alone in the exercise but there were
other stakeholders including the community who had equally realised
that prisons were not formally covered in drug education programmes
taking place outside.

The charismatic ex-convict counselled Chimbokaila prisoners on the
effects of such drugs as cigarettes on the non-smoking inmates.

Amazingly, some inmates later confessed that some of their colleagues
actually "manufactured" drugs within the cells. It was also tabulated
that a minimum of six packets of cigarettes were smoked within an hour
at Chimbokaila.

The inmates formed an anti-drug committee within the prison which is
today responsible for mobilising inmates and spreading information on
drugs.

The committee is also responsible for identifying inmates who are on
drugs and offers some counselling to those who might be in need of
help to stop dependence on drugs.

At Chimbokaila, inmates complained of rampant smoking of cigarettes
which contributed to tuberculosis and other coughing diseases.

>From Chimbokaila prison, the steering committee proceeded to
Mwembeshi Open Air Prison where another 20-member committee of
influential inmates was constituted to be used for educating other
inmates.

The committee passed through an intensive two-day seminar to educate
them on drugs and the techniques of transmitting the acquired
knowledge to their colleagues.

The challenge in drug use which faced Mwembeshi Prison, the inmates
said, hinged on its being an open air prison which gave them freedom
and easy access to all kinds of intoxicants, including cannabis.

The steering committee, after introducing the programme to all the six
prisons in Lusaka, would begin to organise community events with
anti-drug themes where prisoners would show their talents.

The inmates would be later awarded certificates for having
participated in the drug education programme.

But only outstanding performers would be awarded as an
encouragement.

Already, popular theatre groups and football teams have been formed in
the prisons to be used during the social activities for sensitising
both inmates and the community on the dangers of drugs.

Drug Demand Reduction Programme (DDRP) director Peter Chita said
visits to the prisons were an effective method of transmitting data on
drug use in prisons through the inmates.

He said the programme DEC had embarked upon was a streamlined chain of
action with the intention of responding to the problem of drug use in
prisons.

Head of DEC's Lusaka National Education Campaign Division (NECD)
Daimani Zulu noted that the programme needed support from the
community because it would hit a snag once the public stayed aloof.

Although DEC seems to be winning the war against drugs in the
community, the commission has the daunting challenge of combating the
scourge in prisons which include hard core drug traffickers who could
have left their businesses hanging after being arrested and have
intentions of continuing after their release.

Maybe the best thing to do is to take incarceration of drug
traffickers and users as an opportunity to counsel them to ensure they
do not relapse when released from prison. 
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin