By Patrick Beja

Women at the Coast want drug menace declared a national disaster.Women Regional Assembly Mombasa convenor Amina Zuberi, Coast Maendeleo ya Wanawake Organisation chair Sureya Roble, Coast Muslim Women Association chair Farida Rashid and Ms Amina Abdalla urged the Government to save the youth addicted to drugs.

"Drug abuse should be declared a national disaster and given the same attention as HIV and Aids. Drug addicts are worse off than people living with HIV because they cannot work and therefore the Government should rehabilitate them," said Ms Zuberi.

They also called for a death sentence to be introduced for drug dealers and establishment of rehabilitation centres for drug addicts, saying the responsibility of rehabilitating addicts had been left to the private sector.

The centres, they said, should offer free services and cater for men and women because the existing private centres cover only male addicts.

The women made the call at a meeting with National Campaign Against Drug Abuse Authority (Nacada) Director Juma Ngao in Mombasa at the weekend.

Recently women at the Coast threatened to strip if no action was taken to end the drug menace.

Sheikh Ngao said about 26,000 people are drug addicts at the Coast and that seven per cent of the addicts are HIV positive owing to injection drug use.

Ngao said drug traffickers targeted children aged between 10 and 14.

"Nacada should be given teeth. It should have powers to investigate, arrest and prosecute drug dealers," said Ngao.

He said the authority would train five women leaders in every district at the Coast on fighting the drug menace.