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Blessing Karubwa, Bulawayo Bureau

A FORMER drug addict, Taonashe Shoko, is now on a path to redemption through social work.

The 29-year-old Harare resident began a downward spiral into substance abuse during his primary school years, a journey marked by multiple failed attempts at education and rehabilitation.

His addiction escalated from marijuana and alcohol to crystal meth, forcing him into a life of crime to support his habit.

Despite a challenging upbringing, including living with a drug-addicted uncle and facing rejection from family and friends, his father’s unwavering support provided a glimmer of hope.

After overcoming insurmountable odds and quitting drugs in 2022, Shoko is now a first-year social work student at Reformed Church University.

He attributes his new-found sense of purpose to his personal experience with addiction, hoping to help others break free from the cycle of substance abuse.

“I started drugs when I was in Grade Seven, but my parents only realised there was something amiss when I had failed my Advanced Level dismally. I was doing Maths, Physics, and Geography and I failed all the subjects.

“Marijuana was my gateway drug. In Form Four, I had passed seven subjects because I was only taking marijuana and it could not get me extremely high because my system had gotten used to it. When you take drugs, there are also stages, and as you continue taking them, the consumption will increase. The first high that you get from actually being introduced will diminish, and you’ll see a need to take more as time goes on,” said Shoko.

Since he stopped using drugs, Shoko’s outlook on life has completely changed.

He narrated how drug and substance abuse had ruined his life, adding that he used to run away from his parents’ home.

Shoko lamented that he had started by occasionally drinking alcohol and later ventured into marijuana.

“Late 2012, towards the end of my Form Four, I was already a chain smoker and was mixing marijuana with other cigars just to make it more powerful. Initially, when I started occasionally drinking beer, I had told myself I would never take marijuana. When I started occasionally taking marijuana, I had told myself I would never take cigars, and the same applies when I started mixing cigars with marijuana,” he said.

Shoko lived with his parents in Avondale, Harare, while in Upper Sixth.

He was studying the Cambridge curriculum, building on his previous Cambridge O-Level studies.

Failing Upper Sixth deeply disappointed his parents, especially considering they had invested over US$1 200 in his education, including registration fees.

Shoko said he found himself having trouble funding the habit because he was a school-going child, so sometimes he would buy a little bit more and peddle it off to his friends.

“I was very interested in music and hip hop, so as I grew up, that lifestyle, the night-life, and the drug life were sort of inflicted on me from Grade Three. When you are taking drugs, you always learn new methods that get you high from your friends.

“In Forms Five and Six, I started to take Broncleer cough syrup, and that being a very strong and addictive drug, I therefore could not manage my studies, so I failed for the first time. When I returned to school, my parents found out I was already hooked on drugs. If you are a drug addict, you will always see people buying a new drug everywhere, so I was like, okay, let me give it a try, and then I found myself being interested in it. I failed Form Six twice, and my parents realised I was into drugs. When my father tried to get help for me, I ran away to the streets and started staying there. At some point, he would catch up with me and plead with me to go home. I ran away from home more than five times.”

After he failed Upper Sixth, his father secured him a temporary teaching job at a local college in Southerton.

However, he left this position after less than a year and returned to a life on the streets.

He eventually became a braai master at Zindoga, a popular leisure spot, and was introduced to crystal meth.

His escalating drug addiction, involving alcohol, marijuana, Broncleer, and crystal meth, required substantial funds. To support his habit, he took on various jobs, including piecework and touting.

Despite numerous counselling sessions, psychologists informed his father that his addiction was severe and unlikely to be resolved.

Most people, including his girlfriends, had abandoned him.

Only his father persisted in searching for him, urging him to change his life.

In 2019, his father found him on the streets once more and convinced him to enrol in an Electrical Engineering course at Speciss College.

Unfortunately, he dropped out the day before the final exams due to continued involvement with his drug-using friends.

“We spent it on drugs. Unfortunately, police raided us and we were found with drugs, so we were arrested and released the next day after the exams had been written. My parents were very disappointed. As a means to feel not guilty, I went back to the streets and never came back home until 2021 when my father found me in the streets again. This time around, he took me to Parirenyatwa Hospital, and I indeed found help through psychologist Dr Farzana Naeem. In late 2021 to early 2022, my mind started coming back, and I realised I was now thinking straight,” Shoko said.

He discouraged youths from taking drugs, adding that drugs do not bring permanent solutions to problems in life.

He said he got into drugs because of a small choice he made to take a small puff, which later led to a chain of events leading him to the worst part of his life that he regrets even today.

“My life has changed because purpose has found me and purpose has changed and transformed me into what I am to become. Drugs are not able to address your problems, the only thing that drugs can do is to make your life spiral down to where you are not supposed to be. I grew up in a good family but I found myself being a streetkid. I moved from marijuana to Broncleer, took Broncleer for almost six years, and from Broncleer to crystal myth which I had condemned ever since I was growing up. Make a purpose for yourself and do something useful in this world, drugs do not change but worsen situations,” he said.

Dr Naeem said relapse was common among addicts, urging family and caregivers to maintain their support, even in the face of setbacks.

“Yes, we indeed treated Shoko and it took some time but we are glad that at the end of it all, there is a success story about him. The problem is: Once people are into experimental or whatever reason that makes them start drug abuse, the drug will never be enough for them. They will always increase the dosage to make them high. The challenge we face is that if a person relapses one or two times, families will give up which is a serious challenge that we face as a community,” she said.