400,000 YOUTHS 'USING DRUGS'

About 400,000 Kenyan youths are being initiated into drug abuse annually, a
health conference was told yesterday.

Participants at the conference, held by the National Tobacco-Free
Initiative Committee (NTFIC), heard that the youth used tobacco as the
initial drug. The shocking statistics were given by NTFIC chairman, Prof
Peter A Odhiambo. The conference was held to launch a brochure on the
adverse effects of tobacco.

Present at the function was Joseph Kaguthi, the National Agency for the
Campaign Against Drug Abuse (Nacada) boss and Dr Ahmed E O Ogwell, Head of
Department of Non-Communicable Diseases at the Health Ministry.

Odhiambo observed that tobacco was casting a heavy economic burden on the
country, as Kenya's most productive age-group was now dying prematurely.
The committee pledged to launch a more comprehensive booklet by the end of
the year. This year's World No-Tobacco Day will be observed on May 31, 2003.

He lamented that the Kenyan Law had not yet passed the Tobacco Control Bill
while Tanzania had done so.