Support Nacada's good work by being ruthless with drug dealers

National Authority for Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NACADA) Chief Executive Officer Anthony Omerikwa with Board Chairman Stephen Mairori during the launch of National Prevention Week on February 20, 2025, at All Saints Cathedral Nairobi.[Benard Orwongo,Standard] A fortnight ago, the government released a report indicating that nearly a half of students in our universities have abused at least one drug or substance in their lifetime. Findings showed that there were proportionately more students from public universities (68.5 per cent) compared to private universities (31.5 per cent). Over half (54.2 per cent) of the student population were male and 45.2 per cent were female while 0.6 per cent did not state their sex, according to The National Campaign Against Drug Abuse Authority (Nacada). These are grim statistics. It means the generation which the country will, ultimately bequeath leadership, will not be sturdy men and women, thanks to the grip of drugs and substance will have on their lives. Grimmer than this are two verbatim statements I gleaned from the report, attributed to the students secured through focus group discussion (FGD). The first remark is that, the problem of drugs is becoming a crisis and getting out of hand since there is no one focusing on its control. The other remark is that "...alcohol and cannabis are normalised to a point that they are no longer a problem. The students' remarks were loaded. They were saying that we have not, as a nation, risen to the existential threat that drugs and substances pose to the safety and wellbeing of the country. Buried in the statement is a cry. That we should, as a nation, take stock of the threat and fight it with all available weapons. That is what the students were telling policymakers and opinion leaders. That they should fully comprehend the crisis and take decisive action or a series of actions to stem the crisis. That making alcohol and cannabis normal is abnormal. For some reason, the two statements from the FGD triggered my memory of a televised speech former President of the USA, George H Bush made in 1989, when the Federal Government came to grips with the spectre of drugs destroying American Children. I remember reading extracts from the speech, in a news story in the daily newspapers at the time. We didn't have the internet then where you could easily access the full text of the speech as delivered. However, two direct quotes from the news stories attracted me and they still linger in my mind. Speaking directly to the students, Bush noted: "Every day, with a thousand small decisions, you're shaping your future. It's a future that ought to be bright with potential. And most of you are doing the right thing, but for those who let drugs make their decisions for them, you can almost hear the doors slamming shut. It isn't worth it." The other remark from his speech was: "Every time someone does drugs, or sells drugs, or even just looks the other way, they're supporting an industry that costs more than money." This was the second speech Bush delivered after an earlier televised one to the American people, where he unveiled a national strategy to address the crisis that drug dealers-from Colombia and other countries in South America-and naive children and youth had made possible. I noticed nearly all the recommendations that Nacada made in the report to curb drugs and substance abuse among students in universities are restricted to Information Education and Communication-a strategy that aims to change the attitudes, beliefs and behaviours in respect to health or social issue, and problems. Publication campaigns against drugs and substance abuse have their functionalities. They do change attitude and behaviour, properly packed and delivered to the targeted audiences. With the greatest respect, however, they have their limitations. They cannot address the disrespectful, subterranean in some cases, brazen merchandising of bhang and other sophisticated drugs in urban and rural villages. Sometime in 2018, an officer in a security department in one of the public universities told me that drug dealers see university students as a market-a potential and a current market for drugs. I had accompanied the former Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i to the university. This bothered me a lot. Drug lords have adopted sophisticated marketing, advertising and sales strategies to capture and retain this market. The drug dealers may not have a nationwide organisation which coordinates the initiation of children and teenagers into drugs. Be it in urban or rural centres, there are drug dealers either working independently or in unison, to lure children and teenagers into drugs. To drug lords, public campaigns against drugs and substance abuse, are hot air. The government needs to meet the obstinacy of drug dealers, whoever they are and wherever they are, with fire. They might understand this language. Any other language other than this iron and steel approach is akin to playing a flute to a goat. The government ought to walk or speak softly, but walk with a big stick. Speak or walk softly with all those who can help carry the message about the debilitating effects of drug use to children, teenagers and victims of drug and substance use. This will prevent many of them from getting into the drug ring or walk out of it. The government should, however, wield a very big stick to deal with drug lords-be they small or big. It is an open secret in nearly every village who peddles drugs. In most cases, these people don't have the power and influence to intimidate local administrators. However, local administrators-village headmen, Nyumba Kumi, assistant chiefs and chiefs-need unequivocal directive to cut the network of destruction of children and teenagers. They need the full weight, authority and power of the leviathan to have the courage to fight this menace in our villages, estates. A directive, made by say, the CS for Interior in loud and clear language, to county commissioners, would see arrests, destruction of bhang plantations, arraignment in courts of those who supply the drugs. It is useless to spend millions sensitising people, rehabilitating victims of drugs without cutting the supply chain of the drugs.

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