Technology use in the war on illicit brews has contributed to a drop in alcohol and substance abuse in Central region, authorities say.
Regional coordinator Wilfred Nyagwanga on Thursday said the adoption of drones by security agents, for instance, has helped unearth some of the brewing dens that were difficult to locate. They include bushy riverbanks that security officials previously had difficulty accessing.
"We are able to survey the area with the help of our officers on the ground such as chiefs and police officers who helped locate the sites until we eliminated them,” Nyagwanga said.
The administrator spoke during a regional security meeting with officers from the Kenya Bureau of Standards and the Kenya Revenue Authority and the National Campaign Against Drug Abuse (Nacada) in Nyeri.
He, however, warned of emerging ways of drug and alcohol abuse in the wake of the closure of sales outlets as one of the measures to contain the spread of Covid-19.
Nyagwanga, therefore, called for an intensified campaign to curb rising social problems such as suicide, murder, rape and defilement cases.
"We have to ensure this region is free from these drugs by making sure that all those involved in fighting the vice are coordinated properly to ensure the region is safe from the harmful drinks and drugs,” he said.
The directive by President Uhuru Kenyatta to step up campaigns against illicit and second-generation alcoholic drinks in 2017 has also been attributed to the drop. This followed an uproar among residents, especially women.
Nacada CEO Victor Okioma also noted the drop. “We will get these facts when we do our next survey next year. But in the last survey that we did, it showed a drop,” Okioma said.
The last survey was released in 2017. Okioma said drug abuse and alcoholism in the country are still serious issues that have to be dealt with.
He said Nacada has been meeting with other stakeholders to share experiences from counties that have done well to help in arresting the vice. Some of the ways shared will inform their plan of action going forward, he said.
He said people have come with innovative ways to beat the containment measures put in place by the government to prevent the spread of Covid-19, among them the closure of bars.
Festive seasons are most of the time characterised by extreme drug and alcohol abuse.
Nacada says 18.2 per cent of Kenyans have engaged in one substance or the other of which alcohol leads by about 12.2 per cent.
“Those are the people who are actually regular users of alcohol and I can tell you that from the statistics that we also have, 10 per cent of all substance-related disorders are a result of alcohol,” Okioma said.
Tobacco and miraa are also a serious challenge, but the muguka strain of miraa is the most challenging substance and is emerging as one of the areas of concern, he added.
Miraa has affected young people and is responsible for several substance-related disorders. Others are hard drugs such as heroin, bhang — the leading narcotic in terms of abused substances in the country — and cocaine.
He said Nacada will release its most recent survey that covers how peddlers are adopting new methods like blending with cookies, cakes and juice for concealment, to evade the crackdown.
