Around 2,300 drug users were admitted to the Nampula Psychiatric Hospital in the first half of this year, most of them young people and teenagers, an official source said.

The figure represents a significant increase, given that in the same period last year only four hundred and seventy-four drug users were recorded.

According to the director of the Provincial Office for the Prevention and Combat of Drugs in Nampula, the users are mostly young teenagers who, for different reasons, resort to the use of psychoactive substances, allegedly to improve their psychological state.

Quoted by Radio Mozambique's national station, Isabel Alberto, said that there are tendencies among young teenagers to drag children into the world of drug use, which could jeopardize their future.

"This figure is frightening for us. In just one semester, we're talking about teenagers and young people, which is the largest number of users, and sometimes children are dragged into this trap of drug use," she said.

The source expressed his concern because, he said, the young teenagers who have followed these paths, tomorrow "will be the same young adults with mental problems who won't be able to embrace the country's challenges".