A pall of smoke hangs over secondary schools as drug abuse reaches unprecedented levels.

More and more students are getting addicted to drugs dagga that was in the past something used by reckless, rebellious people is now a common smoke among teenagers.

It has slowly but surely become fashionable and is frequently smoked by students in English medium and public schools.

The principal of Gaborone Secondary School (GSS), Mosimanegape Mophuting says it has been very difficult to deal with is dagga abuse in the school since he came to head it last year. He revealed that the problem is rampant and he had to act firmly and quickly and this has had the desired effect. He revealed that most students caught with dagga are those who get a lot of pocket money from their parents. "We do not coerce the students into telling us the truth but they come up to us on their own because they need help," Mophuting said. He added that their mission at GSS is to get to the suppliers with the help of the police and the Diamonds and Narcotics squad. "The students have told us that they get the stuff from the bus rank and mostly from tuck shops. In most cases the police do arrest these people when they are identified by the students," Mophuting said. Molosiwa Ntseane, principal of Ledumang Senior Secondary School (LSSS) confirmed that dagga abuse is a problem in every school.

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