Despite the fact that Uncle Bob has finally been kicked to the curb, times are still tough up in Zimbabwe.

The country is facing a very bleak economic outlook for 2019, and doctors, nurses and teachers are also striking (or set to strike) against their working conditions and pay.

Look, you don’t overcome decades of corruption and greed overnight (something South Africans are coming to realise), but the country’s youth is now facing another serious problem.

According to expert estimates, half of the country’s young people are addicted to drugs, and many of those are hooked on cough syrup.

The most well-known brand is BronCleer and, according to VICE, it’s everywhere:

Throughout Harare, the streets and gutters are littered with empty brown bottles – a sign of the addiction crisis the nation is failing to handle. Among other ingredients, BronCleer contains codeine and alcohol. In small doses, the cough syrup provides pain relief, works as a mild sedative and is relatively harmless. But continuous abuse will lead to permanent organ damage and can result in death. The drug is sold on every street corner, in bars, schoolyards and on buses for as little as $3 (£2.40) a bottle.

Four years ago, Zimbabwe passed a ban on BronCleer, but the cough syrup is still smuggled into the country in large quantities from neighbouring South Africa. And because it’s a cheap and easily attainable high, it has come to represent an irresistible escape for many people in the country who struggle to see a future for themselves.

Sadly, with mass unemployment and ineffective government intervention, it has now become an epidemic.

Here’s the VICE video:

The one positive is that since the documentary aired, the Zimbabwean government has announced plans to open new rehabilitation clinics around the country.

Whether or not they follow through on that promise remains to be seen.

[source:vice]