Drugs and Zanzibar-- Africa's Kathmandu or Skid Row?

The BBC published a story on Zanzibar's growing drug problem. How accurate is the article? How wide spread is drug use (herion and cocaine) amongst locals and do "travelers" really go there for a cheap fix? Have the drug users (abusers-- anyone doing herion and coke ain't healthy either) changed the charecter of the place?

I remember years ago on Lamu the cops were really tough on pot smokers (I realize it is a different country and 20 years ago), but African attitudes towards drugs are highly negative and the police tend to be harsh... How did this change on Zanzibar?

I spent a month in Zanzibar four years ago. Never came across drugs but then I wasn't with other tourists. I stayed in a cottage on the east side of the island. Nothing like Skid Row....Zanzibar is the perfect place to chill out. There were a lot of police around but they seemed to be traffic police stopping people (me) to check driving licences and perhaps hinting at the odd bribe.

It happens. Zanzibar's a transit point for heroin coming in from Afghanistan and the heroin available is pure. Couple of tourists died around Christmas/New Year last year from snorting heroin they thought was coke. Pot is widely available, most of the papasi in Stone Town take drugs in some form or another - the Jambo Jambo CD guys. My friend was doing a research study into high risk groups for HIV, drug users were coming out around 30% prevalence. In terms of how widespread it is, it's a minority. Zanzibar is small and your behaviour reflects on your family. Tie that in with Islam and I'd guess it's a low percentage of the population. You'll find a significant proportion of drug users come from mainland or have been ostracised by their family for the behaviour. I don't know about travelers coming for a cheap fix but I'm not someone who'd be in those kinds of circles.

As far as changing the character of the place, well, I've only been here a year so I'm not in a position to comment. In my opinion, most tourists wouldn't notice. I work in Malindi and there are certainly some areas which are sketchy, where I wouldn't walk on my own at night, but you can say that about anywhere in the world. One of my friends who's been in Tanzania twenty five years told me about snorting heroin he thought was coke in Zanzibar twenty years ago so in anecdotal terms, it's been around for a while.

This is all my humble opinion, but I can ask my friend who ran the research study if you want a more informed viewpoint.

It is visible. I have visited Zanzibar several times since 1994, and the security has got worse (not alarmingly, but still) and every now and then you can come across these very aggressive guys in stone town. However, i don't any insight to tourist scene.

Several (family) members of political elite in Africa are involved in drug traffic, and hard drugs are present in many places in particular on the coast. In my opinion, the worst case is Maputo, the drug situation there is bad and it has direct impact on criminality.

Dar and Zanzibar, big drugs scene, not really that accessible to tourist though. both places are major routes for heroin coming in from pakistan.