Source: Ex-drug addicts for national youth service -Newsday Zimbabwe
GOVERNMENT has announced a new policy to enrol successfully rehabilitated drug addicts in the National Youth Service (NYS) programme, providing a structured path to reintegration and skills training.
The initiative, announced yesterday by Youth minister Tino Machakaire during a tour of Restore Life Rehabilitation Centre in Harare, aims to harness the potential of recovered youth for national development.
“For too long, our young people have been lost to the darkness of drugs,” Machakaire said.
“This programme is about national healing and productivity.
“We are saying to every rehabilitated youth, your country needs you.”
The programme will involve a rigorous vetting process.
Only those who have completed certified rehabilitation and received a clean bill of health from professionals will be eligible.
After the NYS, they will be enrolled at vocational training centres.
Restore Life founder Jonathan Muchengeti welcomed the policy, saying it validates their work.
“A rehabilitated addict is not a damaged good,” Muchengeti said.
“They are some of the most resilient individuals you will ever meet.”
Social commentator Rebecca Chisamba also praised the move, calling it “a powerful step in the right direction” that sends a message of national care and redemption.
Reports have shown that new admissions at mental health
institutions are drug abusers, mostly teenagers.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has called for stiffer penalties against drug abusers and cartels supplying the intoxicants.
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