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Drug Taking Is A Personal Thing - Gituai

Drug taking is a personal decision one makes on their own and has nothing to do with what your parents have said or what your teachers have said. It is you who takes and you who will get sick, become a cabbage, and get various diseases not your brother or father but you. It is a personal thing.

This was the message passed by the Programme Coordinator, Capacity Building, Office of the National Coordinator, National Agency for the Campaign Against Abuse (NACADA) Mr. Cyrus Gituai.

He was speaking during a one day drug sensitization programme organised by NACADA at Nyangua Secondary School, Kiritiri, Mbeere District on the 4th of October

NACADA had found that young people in standards six, seven and eight and then on to forms one and two were extremely vulnerable and easily fall victim to drug abuse.

Gituai defined drug abuse as "sporadic, persistant and excessive use of mind altering and behaviour changing substances for any reason other than acceptable medical purposes"

many of you take a drug for entertainment and not for medical purposes. "No hopsital you will go to and be told to take tobacco. Can cigarettes cure a disease" the NACADA official asked?

'Yes' chorused a large selection of the students to the consternation of many of those present.

"Which one?" asked a visibly baffled Gituai, to which the students replied 'headache'. This went to show how much misinformation was out there among students on the subject of alcohol and other drugs and their usage.

They were then informed that tobacco could not cure any illness and as Gituai added cynically cigarettes "were the only product which if used as prescribed leads to death!.

He urged them not to be fooled as he again reiterated that use of drugs was a very personal desicion and "nobody smokes for you or pours that beer in your throat. You decide for yourself and the end result is regret."

A survey they had done had confirmed that 68% of the youth in Kenya in the age group 15-20 years take drugs in one way or another even using tobacco "by placing under the tongue and spitting like snakes, Tusker (a beer) miraa (khat) and other drugs."

When you got to the age group 22 years to 25 years of age, this figure rose to 75%. These were the group who were out of school and that is why these numbers escalate.

Then in the 25 - 75 year age bracket this percentage went down because many had died, or were sick or had quit. At the same time "many of them were sick with diseases they did not even know the cause, yet if traced you would find use of a certain drug" had led to this.

At the same time the main target for those selling drugs were the youth because 80% of the population were in the 18-25 year bracket thus being a prime target for any body selling any product including drugs.

The Programme Coordinator, Capacity Building, then gave a dire warning on the grave situation which had been created by the introduction of satchets (small plastic sachets of alcohol as small as 100ml and very cheap) "because nobody sees them (the students) with it and this is what we are seeing in Centarl province all the strikes and burning of schools stem from these and other drugs."

"Then all these dorms, labs etc. that you burn," only means that you "lose facilities which deny your brothers and your parents have to end up paying for because you had taken alcohol and bhang"

The NACADA official also noted that even here in Mbeere those vehicles which left with miraa came back with other drugs which were then locally consumed.

With all these side effects why would somebody want to use drugs? Well there were several reasons according to Gituai and one of them was curiosity, "and I don't blame you because I did the same when I was young, but don't forget that 'curiosity killed the cat'

Another of the reasons young people used drugs was peer pressure. There were always those who were called peer leaders and who usually decided which direction or what the group would do. "You know them, those who come to you and say let's do this or try that. They are also the leaders of the groups and choose names for them. I am sure all of you can remember the first person who offered you a puff or a sip."

Finally there was boredom, for example soon "many of you here will have finished form four and then all the festivities now approachin connected with christmas, no more school, or prefects and then sincemany will have wasted their time and did not read will fail and not have anything to do."

Gituai concluded by informing the large gathering of students and teachers, area D.C. and DEO that "the government had declared in 2002 that all public places are declared non-smoking zones and schools are public places. So no workers, teachers or anybody should be allowed to smoke within these compounds. Schools housl put up big signs noting 'you are now entering a no smoking zone.'

In conclusion, there was a final word of advice for the students. "Don't stop smoking or drinking (alcohol) because the rules are there." They should only do this because they believed it was not good for their health. Otherwise is it was only as a result of the rules "immiediately you leave school you will light 10 cigarettes and smoke as you go," to catch up.

Thanking the students for their patience he noted that "If we have managed to get to only two people here we at NACADA are happy because you cannot even quantify the life of one person.

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