Deal in drugs today, regret tomorrow

DAR ES SALAAM: ACTUALLY, our youths are not dying from lack of ambition, but simply they are dying from addiction. The streets are littered with lost potential, victims of a drug trade that walks among us like a ghost in plain sight.

Drug peddlers, once shadows in the alley, are now bold and unafraid, flaunting wealth earned through misery.

Drug lords operate with impunity, hiring local hands, recruiting the young and infecting entire neighbourhoods with false dreams and real nightmares.

The truth? Every pill pushed, every powder passed, every needle offered is an act of war against our families. It is time we named the enemy and fought back with every legal, social and moral weapon at our disposal.

The government must declare an unrelenting crackdown on drug cartels and their distributors. We do not need tiptoe tactics; we need bulldozers and that is legally and figuratively.

While government efforts are commendable in parts, enforcement is often reactive and under-resourced. We need intelligenceled policing, specialised and unremorseful anti-narcotics units and the political will to bring down the big fish, not just parade the petty dealers for cameras.

And yes, we must stop treating addiction as a crime alone and view it also as a public health crisis. But this is not just the government’s battle.

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This is our battle. You, reading this-do you know someone dealing drugs? Then name them. Report them. Protecting them is not loyalty, it is enabling destruction. Too many parents have watched their promising sons spiral into psychosis or their daughters vanish into the abyss of dependency.

Schools, churches, sports teams, you name them-no corner of society is immune. The cost is devastating: families drained by rehab expenses, single mothers holding together broken homes and employers watching a sober workforce fade into oblivion.

Every addict could have been a teacher, a coder, a nurse, a builder. Instead, we are losing them to something preventable. To our youth: that hush money you are pocketing- the one that buys the flash phone, the trendy kicks, the loud lifestyle? It comes soaked in sorrow.

There is no happy ending in the drug game. You may enjoy the ride for a while, but it ends with prison, pain, or a pine coffin. Fast money is tempting, we get it.

But trust this: the consequences will outlast the cash. Drug lords are not role models; they are merchants of death wearing designer belts.

The streets may seem like the only option, but they are lying to you. We must all choose sides, because there is no neutral ground. You are either helping fight the drug menace, or you are helping it grow. Speak out. Report dealers. Support rehabilitation.

Demand action. Together, let us make drug trafficking so toxic that no one dares to touch it. Let this not be another call lost in smoke. Let it be the one that clears the air.