'Don't chide Kaguthi for a good job'

Letter to the editor Saturday Nation/ February 9, 2002

Columnist David Makali's criticism of Mr. Joseph Kaguthi (Saturday Nation, February 2) was unjust and irksome. Mr. Kaguthi has good intentions.

"The National Coordinator of the national something against drug abuse", Mr. Makali derogatively called NACACA, should take heart. Being vilified means that he is doing a good job

As a recovering alcoholic, I see the matter differently. By stating that Mr. Kaguthi cannot tackle the enemy he knows pretty well (the crooks who grow poppy and traffic in illicit drugs), Mr. Makali sets aside the "least threatening form of drug abuse: alcohol", and thus does Kenyans a great injustice.

No less an authority than the World Health Organisation has projected that alcohol use will will take a greater claim on human health than any other single disease.

Closer to home, Tony Johnston, in his book Adolescent Drug Abuse in Kenya: Impact on reproductive Health, says the drug threat lies less in narcotics and inhalants but in regular use and addiction in alcohol and tobacco.

Meanwhile, Kenyans are dying every day due to wrongly attributed causes - Aids, accidents (industrial, vehicular, domestic), suicide and other diseases.

Yet the real culprit is alcohol abuse. Women, too, are up in arms all over the country against consumption of illicit brews.

Despite all these, Mr. Makali would have us believe that alcohol is the "least threatening form of drug abuse."

He goes on to admit that drug abuse is rife in schools and that " underage teenagers are being lured into early drinking and smoking". But, he says " the root cause of drug abuse is... the barons".

This is not true. The youth are the problem. Why are they turning to alcohol and narcotics?

Unless we get their profile and understand their motivation, all our efforts at reforming them will be futile.

David Ogot
Nairobi

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