We condemn the abuse of drugs
Friday, September 05, 2025 | 90 Views |
We take this opportunity to condemn in the strongest terms the trail of destruction the habit-forming drugs continue to leave behind. At the memorial service of the fallen artist, Atasaone Molemogi, popularly known as ATI, this week, we learnt a lot that drugs were the worst enemies to the health of our promising artists to the extent that Copyright Society of Botswana (COSBOTS) has deliberately come up with a drug combating programme to empower the artists to recover from the debilitating effects of drugs as they have realised it was killing talent.
Now, it was even more disquieting when the COSBOTS president, Letlhogonolo Makwinja, revealed that some of the artists hit hard by the drugs were currently at the mental asylums at Sabrana and Jubilee hospitals, and other facilities. This is so depressing, to say the least. We have also learnt about the brutal truth from ATI’s father, William Molemogi, that his son was into drugs. He even called upon the authorities to consider naming a rehabilitation facility in his name. On a closer reflection, the man’s call mirrored deep-seated snags in our society. The nation has to unite and combat the scourge before more problems pile up.
It is not uncommon in this part of the world for parents to actually punish their children when they show signs of depression associating it with issues of indiscipline, and as a result, the poor child will be lashed or given some kind of punishment. We have had many suicide cases in the country and sadly some of the cases included children and young adults. We need to start looking into issues of mental health with the seriousness it...