Alarm as drug dealers find thriving market in schools and colleges

David is a Third Year student at the University of Nairobi. When he reported to the institution for the first time, he used to wonder what the blinking lights at dark corners of hostel corridors were for.

“One day, I discovered what was cooking in there. It was comrades smoking bang and cigarettes,” he recalls, “...and that is how I was introduced to bhang.”

Despite his strong Christian background, he is among several students who are drug addicts in institutions of higher learning.

He says he is not sure if his parents are aware of this reality. “While at home, I use all forms of disguise, but at times my dad senses a weird smell in the house,” says David.

University of Nairobi’s Public Relations Officer Charles Sikulu, acknowledges that drug abuse is rampant in the institution.

To address the problem, he says the Dean of Students office has established a guidance and counselling unit, which has helped reform some of the students.

He says: “Drug abuse is a societal issue and like the rest of the youth in the community, our students are also affected.”

Without giving the numbers, Sikulu says several students had been taken to rehabilitation centres and now they lead reformed lives.

According to the latest national survey done in 2012 by National Authority for the Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Nacada), one in three students reported using one or more drugs. David Kibwalei, a psychiatrist based in Nairobi says poor parenting is to blame for this societal ill.

Kibwalei says instead of instilling positive values in their children, most parents have absconded their duties and are spoiling them by giving them too much pocket money.

“These students have so much money at their disposal including Helb loan. That’s why you find them in bars and other entertainment spots where drugs are sold,” says Kibwalei.

Kenyatta University’s lecturer Redempta Maithya, in a research titled ‘Drug abuse among youth in secondary and drug abuse in secondary schools in Kenya: Developing a programme for prevention and intervention’, shows that kiosks and shops account for up to 20 per cent of the drugs getting into schools and colleges, while touts account for 12.7 per cent, watchmen 8.8 per cent, cobblers 6.7 per cent and cooks 5.7 per cent.The remaining 26 per cent is sourced from slums. She also attributes a high number of school unrest to the drugs.

“Most schools often riot because their students are high on drugs,” Maithya notes.

An investigation by The Standard on Saturday established that the drug peddlers are stationed strategically outside learning institutions.

At the Kenyatta University, our team discovered that a kiosk operator also doubles as a miraa distributor at the famous Kenyatta Market where many students reside.

Sophisticated business

The trader, who operates on a 24-hour service, stocks the drugs, which are then passed on to university students. So sophisticated is the trade that the peddlers even stuff the contraband drugs into straws to avoid any detection from the public.

The Standard on Saturday learnt that some drugs such as cocaine and bhang are stocked in margarine containers and inside torches. Alcohol is also smuggled in bottles of liquid detergents or mixed with juices or soda.

Kenyatta University’s Public Relations manager Paul Waithaka, says the university is not aware of such practices. However, the Director of Students Affairs Department Dr Edwin Gimode, says the university will be keen to know the drug peddlers.

“Help us identify them (peddlers) who are spoiling our children,” he says.

Some drugs even pass as sweets or chewing gum. Some are put in toothpaste and the tube carefully sealed back into its normal shape, others in sanitary towels and some being put inside biro pens and then sealed to avoid detection. Most of these operators are M-Pesa and food kiosks located near school gates, while others are food and sweets vendors.

John Mututho, the Nacada chairman says it is unfortunate that drug peddlers target students. Mututho says the agency is planning to close all business premises located near schools.

He says the agency is aware how the traffickers were colluding with street families to supply the contraband to school-going children.

He says: “It is worrying that students have devised methods of trafficking drugs. It has also come to our attention that there is a big racket between the traffickers and street families. We will do our investigations to establish the truth.”

Kenyatta University's Ruth Kahuthia says two most abused substances are shisha and kuber, but prescription drugs, which include well-known brands such as Piriton, Panadol, Valium and Diclophenac, are also popular among youth.

Citing a survey she carried out last year with Nacada, Kahuthia says more than 40 substances are being abused by youth in Nairobi and Mombasa alone.

“Abusers say with Sh300, they can satisfy their daily need for a ‘legal high’ although some use as much as Sh1,000 daily. This comes to Sh30,000 in a month, which is a substantial amount,” she says.

According to the results of the survey published in the 'Journal of Applied Biosciences', in Nairobi, Westlands emerged as the top haven for the abuse of the new drugs followed by Lang'ata and Eastlands.