NACADA Warns of Growing Drug Use in Universities, Pushes for Enforcement of 300-Meter Alcohol Rule

By Aoma Kezi­ah,

In a move aimed at curb­ing the grow­ing issue of sub­stance abuse in uni­ver­si­ties, the Nation­al Author­i­ty for the Cam­paign Against Alco­hol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) has offi­cial­ly launched its “2024 Report on the Sta­tus of Drugs and Sub­stance Use Among Uni­ver­si­ty Stu­dents in Kenya.”

The report, unveiled by Inte­ri­or and Nation­al Admin­is­tra­tion Cab­i­net Sec­re­tary  Kipchum­ba Murkomen, high­lights an esca­lat­ing cri­sis of alco­hol and drug abuse among stu­dents, under­scor­ing the dire con­se­quences it pos­es not only to indi­vid­ual health but also to nation­al secu­ri­ty and eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment.

In his address,  he called for a nation­al con­ver­sa­tion on the mat­ter, urg­ing all sec­tors of soci­ety to work togeth­er to tack­le the issue, empha­siz­ing that the government’s efforts alone would not suf­fice with­out broad­er pub­lic par­tic­i­pa­tion.

“Alco­hol and drug abuse among our youth ruins their health, hurts their poten­tial, threat­ens our nation­al secu­ri­ty, and under­mines our devel­op­ment. This cri­sis needs an urgent nation­al con­ver­sa­tion about find­ing an all-of-soci­ety approach to com­bat it.” Stat­ed CS Murkomen.

In atten­dance,  Inspec­tor Gen­er­al  of police Dou­glas Kan­ja, not­ed that they will involve the Anti-Ter­ror Unit, to curb the grow­ing issue of sub­stance abuse.

“I can­not sup­port any­thing that threat­ens the future of our youth. To pro­tect young peo­ple from drug abuse, we will strength­en our efforts by involv­ing the Anti-Ter­ror Unit.”  He vowed.

One of the key rec­om­men­da­tions in the report is the enforce­ment of the “300-meter rule,” which restricts the sale of alco­hol and drugs with­in 300 meters of edu­ca­tion­al insti­tu­tions. This mea­sure, NACADA believes, will sig­nif­i­cant­ly reduce the easy access stu­dents have to illic­it sub­stances, help­ing to cre­ate safer envi­ron­ments in and around cam­pus­es.

In addi­tion to the call for stricter enforce­ment of the 300-meter rule, Murkomen announced that the gov­ern­ment is enhanc­ing the capac­i­ty of the Anti-Nar­cotics Drug Unit (ANDU). The expand­ed unit will focus on dis­man­tling drug net­works and improv­ing intel­li­gence gath­er­ing, par­tic­u­lar­ly in regions close to uni­ver­si­ties.

“We are also explor­ing oth­er mea­sures, includ­ing boost­ing the capac­i­ty of police sta­tions near uni­ver­si­ties to bol­ster their intel­li­gence gath­er­ing and col­lab­o­ra­tion with oth­er agen­cies in help­ing tack­le the men­ace.”  He remarked.

The CS also point­ed fin­gers at cer­tain polit­i­cal fig­ures, con­demn­ing those who engage in brib­ing youth with alco­hol and oth­er sub­stances dur­ing polit­i­cal ral­lies.

“To the politi­cians who bribe our youth with alco­hol and oth­er sub­stances to heck­le their oppo­nents at meet­ings, you are hurt­ing our anti-drugs cam­paign, and we are com­ing for you.” He  warned.

The report also urged uni­ver­si­ties to step up their efforts in safe­guard­ing stu­dents’ well-being , the CS Inte­ri­or  call­ing  on par­ents and guardians to play an active role by close­ly mon­i­tor­ing their children’s activ­i­ties and pro­vid­ing nec­es­sary sup­port.

“Uni­ver­si­ties must remain safe havens for our young peo­ple by ensur­ing their all-round well­be­ing through stronger psy­choso­cial sup­port.” Added  Murkomen.

As the gov­ern­ment inten­si­fies its fight against sub­stance abuse in edu­ca­tion­al insti­tu­tions, the launch of this report under­scores the urgent need for col­lab­o­ra­tive action to pro­tect the future of the country’s youth and safe­guard their poten­tial for suc­cess.