NAIROBI, Kenya, May 12 — One in six Kenyans (4,733,152) aged between 15 and 65 is projected to abuse at least one drug or substance, a newly released national survey on the “Status of Drugs and Substance Use (DSU) in Kenya has shown.
The 2022 report released Friday by the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) indicated one in every three males (3,783,854) aged 15 – 65 years and one in every sixteen females (949,298) were using at least one drug or substance.
The five-year survey reported the highest prevalence of at least one drug or substance of abuse in Western region at 26.4 per cent followed by Eastern 20.7 per cent and Nairobi 19.1 per cent.
In regards to alcohol abuse, one in every eight Kenyans aged 15 – 65 years (3,199,119) are said to be alcoholic with Western region having the highest prevalence at 23.8 per cent followed by Coast (13.9 per cent) and Central (12.8 per cent).
Nairobi region had the highest prevalence of manufactured legal alcohol (10.3 per cent) followed by Central (10.0 per cent) and Eastern 8.4 per cent.
Central region had the highest prevalence of potable spirits (4.1 per cent) followed by Coast (3.2 per cent) and Rift Valley (3.1 per cent).
National crisis
Commenting on the findings, Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo said the statistics on drug and substance abuse are truly alarming and deeply concerning.
He expressed worry over the young age of the most of drug and substance not that the country is staring at a huge crisis if quicker interventions are not put in place.
“When I first went through the 2022 Drug Use Report, it hit me that we were staring at a crisis of epic proportions. The fact that more than 4 million people used drugs in the country in 2022 was truly staggering, that is 1 in every 10 people,” PS Omollo said.
He said that the potential and work force that could otherwise contribute to the growth and development of the country is “far worse now than at independence 60 years ago.”
“Unfortunately, the most productive years lie within this bracket, and this is fast being eroded by alcohol, that is the most actively used, and cannabis whose use has increased by 90 percent in the last 5 years,” Omollo added.
On his part NACADA CEO Victor Okioma said the revelations from the survey is very worrying singling out the drop in the age of initiation to as low as 6 yrs.
He pointed out that all the stakeholders need to work together to identify the root causes of the drug and substance abuse and come up with sustainable solutions.
“If you look between ages 25-35, the people we expect to be working, the preference for alcohol is 14 per cent. What we are seeing is the younger population are consuming drugs more than the older generation,” he said.
He further expressed worry over the online sale and delivery of alcohol noting that it has become challenging to control.
