�Buy a pill that will calm you down� � gateway to drug addiction

The issue of children and adolescents using harmful drugs for stress relief is becoming increasingly common.

Children learn mainly by emulating what their parents do. The scary fact is that children are the ones who are usually be sent by parents to go and buy over-the-counter painkillers from a “semausu” or a tuckshop, “ngwanaka tsaya o ye go nthekela pilisi ya tlhogo hale, kena le stress” which means “go and buy me some painkillers my child, I have a splitting stress-related headache”. This is one of the most dangerous statements a child can hear from a parent. It teaches children to use painkillers to instantly relieve stress-related headache, and consequently learn to use stronger chemicals when their bodies start to build resistance against over-the-counter painkillers.