News (Media Awareness Project) - Kenya: Drugs: We Are Crossing The Threshold Of Pessimism |
| Title: | Kenya: Drugs: We Are Crossing The Threshold Of Pessimism |
| Published On: | 2004-03-26 |
| Source: | East African Standard, The (Kenya) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-01-18 14:02:51 |
DRUGS: WE ARE CROSSING THE THRESHOLD OF PESSIMISM
Nairobi
Today, the coordinator of the national agency for the campaign against drug
abuse, Nacada completes his tenure as the country's top drug czar.
It has been two intense years at the helm of an agency whose formation
could not have been more timely. Though its remit has not gone beyond
creating awareness and campaigning against drug abuse, few can argue that
Mr Joseph Kaguthi has not taken that task in his stride and done his bit.
But now, time has come for the government to move from merely creating
awareness to fighting distribution and consumption.
In schools, drug abuse has become a worrying phenomenon. Statistics
available from Nacada show that in western province 43.3 per cent of
students abuse alcohol while in Nairobi the figure stands at 40 per cent.
It starts with a cigarette then morbidly progresses to hard drugs.
Statistics show that 37 per cent of the youth aged between 10 and 14 use
psychotropic substances. Of youth aged below 19, the figure stands at 75
per cent. In a few years, students who were taken to school become today's
hardened criminals, drug addicts and basically zombies of little use to the
nation.
KTN has often filmed the operations of drug takers and suppliers in
Nairobi. Yet it is only a media organization. The Criminal Investigations
Department certainly has more powerful cameras than KTN. Why doesn't it get
to the bottom of the problem? Why don't they even act on the news clips?
There is a seminal lack of will in the government to combat this problem.
Thanks to Nacada, we have been able to know the extent to which this nation
is imperiled by drugs.
The message has been that we are sitting on a powder keg. In late eighties
and very early nineties, the government was warned that unless they did
something about street children, the problem would become unbearable.
Nobody listened. Where are we today?
As of drugs we are stealthily crossing the threshold towards pessimism. We
will look back and wonder why we never listened to the warnings.
Nairobi
Today, the coordinator of the national agency for the campaign against drug
abuse, Nacada completes his tenure as the country's top drug czar.
It has been two intense years at the helm of an agency whose formation
could not have been more timely. Though its remit has not gone beyond
creating awareness and campaigning against drug abuse, few can argue that
Mr Joseph Kaguthi has not taken that task in his stride and done his bit.
But now, time has come for the government to move from merely creating
awareness to fighting distribution and consumption.
In schools, drug abuse has become a worrying phenomenon. Statistics
available from Nacada show that in western province 43.3 per cent of
students abuse alcohol while in Nairobi the figure stands at 40 per cent.
It starts with a cigarette then morbidly progresses to hard drugs.
Statistics show that 37 per cent of the youth aged between 10 and 14 use
psychotropic substances. Of youth aged below 19, the figure stands at 75
per cent. In a few years, students who were taken to school become today's
hardened criminals, drug addicts and basically zombies of little use to the
nation.
KTN has often filmed the operations of drug takers and suppliers in
Nairobi. Yet it is only a media organization. The Criminal Investigations
Department certainly has more powerful cameras than KTN. Why doesn't it get
to the bottom of the problem? Why don't they even act on the news clips?
There is a seminal lack of will in the government to combat this problem.
Thanks to Nacada, we have been able to know the extent to which this nation
is imperiled by drugs.
The message has been that we are sitting on a powder keg. In late eighties
and very early nineties, the government was warned that unless they did
something about street children, the problem would become unbearable.
Nobody listened. Where are we today?
As of drugs we are stealthily crossing the threshold towards pessimism. We
will look back and wonder why we never listened to the warnings.
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