National Authority for the Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) is partnering with Meru County’s Alcoholic Drinks Control Board to create awareness against drug and substance abuse in central Kenya.

Speaking after a vigorous two-day roadshow staged in all the nine sub-counties in the region, NACADA Coordinator in Meru and Isiolo counties Alice Mwangi said the agency aims to create awareness of the dangers of drug and substance abuse among local residents in terms of their health and economic status and have them change for the better.

“We have realised that consumption of alcohol, cigarettes and bhang is on the rise in Meru and this is what has informed the decision to hold these roadshows get to the rural folks to learn and change the trajectory substance abuse,” Mwangi said.

“To those who have been using such drugs,” she added, “we have been directing them to the right places where they can get assistance from the county and national government and also given them a helpline, 1192 so that anyone who wants to be assisted to stop drug abuse can call and get helped free of charge”.

“As we were moving around, we realised that communities are aware that drugs like bhang are affecting them negatively and are calling on the government to intervene and that is the reason NACADA responded by coming to the grassroots to engage with the locals,” Mwangi said.

She said the war against drug abuse is not the responsibility of the government alone. She appealed on other sectors ncluding religious organisations, schools and parents to come on board to save the future generation.

“I want to encourage all our religious leaders, schools and parents to help us in the fight against drug and substance abuse by talking to their children about it. We are also urging them to avoid exposing children to areas where they can easily access these drugs as we try to combat the situation for a better generation,” Mwangi said.

While acknowledging the efforts made by the authority, Mwangi noted some of the challenges they face in the fight, including negligence among parents, that has affected the younger generation due to a lack of positive role models on drug abuse, as well as cultural norms where some communities use substances that they are not willing to accept that they are part of the drugs.

Meru County Alcoholic Drinks Control Board Chief Executive Officer Mbaabu Muguna acknowledged the efforts by NACADA in ensuring Meru people are educated on the dangers of drug and substance abuse.

“Our board aims to majorly monitor and control the processing, selling and consumption of alcohol within our county as we also acknowledge and encourage NACADA in ensuring that Meru residents are educated on the dangers of drugs,” Muguna said.

Muguna also pointed out that a recent report indicates that for 100 persons who die, four of them succumb to alcohol-related complications while at the same time suggesting that 43 per cent of people in the entire world have never used alcohol.

“This is the reason we are getting out there to tell people of the dangers of alcohol and other drugs to ensure that those who have not used them do not get recruited into the same and at the same time have more victims abandon the usage so that we can at least be talking of 60 percent of people who have never used alcohol,” Muguna said.

He called on the local residents not to lose hope in their relatives affected by drugs and substance abuse but rather to take them to the five rehabilitation centres in the county for restoration.

• A Tell / KNA report / By Dickson Mwiti

Meru/Isiolo region NACADA Coordinator, Alice Mwangi (centre flanked by Meru County’s Alcoholic Drinks Control Board Chief Executive Officer Dr Mbaabu Muguna (right) during a press briefing in Meru County. Credit: Dickson Mwiti).