400,000 STUDENTS ABUSE DRUGS? WHERE ARE WE HEADED TO?

Nairobi

There is one man whose job few would envy. His name is Mr Joseph Kaguthi,
the country's drugs csar. Every day, his job becomes ever the more
difficult with the revelation that more and more young people in the
country are abusing drugs.

The latest statistics shockingly say that there are 400,000 students who
have become drug addicts in Kenyan secondary schools. The number of girls
abusing drugs is said to be growing at an alarming rate and could soon
surpass that of boys.

More shocking is the fact that the purveyors of drugs are known to the
police by name but nothing is done to them. Whatever good intentions
Kaguthi might have, they will always meet their waterloo at the hands of an
unco-operative law enforcement agency.

Drug experts have established a direct link between tobacco smoking and
hard drugs smoking. In fact, participants at a head teachers conference in
Mombasa early in the week heard that one of the most abused drug is called
Kuber which is a mixture of tobacco and bhang. the drug, experts told the
conference, is taken in the form of cigarette.

Cigarette smoking even among youths has tended to raise few eyebrows in our
society. We have even had cigarette companies sponsoring some school events
and advertising their products with abandon. The message being sent to the
youth is simple: that it is kosher to smoke. Smoking gives you wings.

But when one looks at the statistics of students who are abusing drugs, one
is filled with trepidation at the future of this country. Which is why the
disease must be defined by its own diagnosis. We take no word back. The
Government must speedily enact the National Tobacco Bill to provide the
necessary legislation for the campaign against smoking. We must not lose
sight of the fact that even those who abuse drugs today must have started
with an innocuous smoke at a dingy alleyway of their school or dwelling
place some day in their lives.