Christian spirituality as protective factors against drugs and substance abuse by Zimbabwean youths: A case of the Catholic church in Gweru urban

Abstract

Drug and alcohol abuse, among adolescents, is a global phenomenon that is not limited to aspecific culture or religion. Zimbabwe faces an acute alcohol and drug addiction pandemic.The abuse of drugs by the youths has become a cause for concern and a growing body ofresearch suggests that religion is an important protective factor against drugs and substanceabuse; and that religion may help in the rehabilitation of drug addicts by enabling them findmeaning, direction and purpose in life. The Catholic Church (in Zimbabwe) has taken a firmstance against substance abuse, in all forms, for centuries. This paper assesses how Christianspirituality can be used as a protective factor against drug and substance abuse. The studyuses a qualitative approach, where a case study involving in depth interviews was used. Atotal of 22 purposively sampled congregants participated in the study. Data was analysedusing thematic analysis. Results show that there are so many drugs being abused by mostyouths. These include marijuana, bronclee, mangemba, cane sprit, PP tablets (blue, white andpink), codeine, Tegu Tegu and ZED. It was discovered that, youths also make drugs out ofgreen geisha, chalk dust, sanitizers, and a combination of orange crush and Cerevita. It wasnoted that the Catholic church has been at the forefront of promoting spirituality as a wayof combating drug and substance abuse among young people. Through its various programs,the church provides guidance and support to young people, helping them develop a senseof purpose, direction, and meaning in their lives. This, in turn, helps reduce the likelihood ofdrug and substance use. It was concluded that, the church provides counselling and supportservices to young people struggling with addiction through awareness campaigns, workshops,congresses, meetings among other activities, in order to promote drug and substance abuseawareness. One of the recommendations was that, in order to increase capacity, the CatholicChurch is working towards building partnerships and collaborations with other organisationsand stakeholders. This involves partnering with the local government, non-profit organisations,and other community groups to expand access to prevention and treatment services