Drug addicts have long been viewed as morally flawed and indisciplined members of the society, leading to an emphasis on punishment rather than prevention and treatment.
Society has failed to understand that drug addiction is a disease arising from social influence or challenges in life, such as stress and depression.
Recovering drug addict Manuel Bano, 45, used to be a footballer. He says discrimination by his coach was the main cause of his drug use.
“At 23 years, I was a very good footballer in my village but along the way, I started feeling discriminated by my coach whenever we had a game with other teams,” he said.
“This affected me because I did not understand why he preferred other players yet I was among the best players.”
Bano said he kept wondering why he was being discriminated against to the extent he could not find sleep. He later opted to start using drugs so he could get sleep at night.
“I felt stressed because football was my passion. I joined my friends who were using drugs and decided to taste it. It had a good feeling but I did not know the good feeling was a trap of being addicted to it,” he said.
He later quit playing football and took the path of using drugs because his body could not stop him from having the urge to use the drugs.
Mother of one Agnes Njeri, 38, also a recovering addict, said falling in love with drug sellers made her start using drugs.
“When I was in college, I used to smoke and chew muguka, until when I met this young man who later became the love of my life. He was introduced to me by my friend and my brother,” she said.
She said she was influenced to start using drugs because the boyfriend could give her for free to taste.
Years later, Njeri had to choose between love and drugs after the boyfriend told her to stop using drugs because he was not using. She chose drugs and left her lover.
SOCIAL STIGMA
Looking back, Bano and Njeri say before one becomes a drug addict, it all starts with leisure, where one gets to taste the drug to get the good feeling.
Njeri says drug addiction is a disease that when it attacks a person, you become an enemy of the society instead of getting treatment.
Reachout Centre Trust in Mombasa provides harm reduction services to those who need the help. Director Taib Abdulrahman defines a drug as a substance that alters how an individual acts, behaves and feels.
“There are people in the community who still believe drug addicts should be charged and be removed from the community,” he said.
“They have gone to the extent of using different platforms advocating their removal, something which is the hardest part in our community because where will they go?”
Taib said the community has three different levels of people. The first is indifferent people, who do not want to support or know anything about drug addiction.
The second level is of family members who are frustrated and have given up after trying all they can to help their loved ones who are addicts in vain.
The third is those who are ready to support the addicts in their recovery journey. Taib said this group of people is understanding. The organisation has received a good response and referrals from them.
“Some people are scared because they are in doubt if the treatment will work, but those who have seen people recovering believe and are ready to support us,” he said.
Fatma Abdallah, commonly known as “Mama Onelove”, is a village elder at Old Town in Mvita subcounty working hard to rescue drug addicts from community attacks.
She was inspired to save the lives of those who are ready to reform by her son, who was a drug addict, and also because she is a mother.
“The punishment drug addicts get from the community is what makes them engage in crimes like theft. As a mother, I feel like the community needs to love and understand these people instead of neglecting them,” she said.
Abdallah, who has been working with Reachout Centre Trust, said the community needs to unite and support the addicts.
“I'm not doing this for fame but to help the young affected children. I'm, therefore, urging everyone to come out and give their support for us to protect them because my prayer is to one day end the drug addiction among our children,” she said.
DEALING WITH ADDICTION
Taib says before a person becomes an addict, it all starts with experimenting, where an individual gets the urge to taste the drug.
After experimenting, the person becomes a regular user and later becomes dependent. “The body will always need it for it to function well,” he said.
The user will feel something missing and become agitated, angered and not at ease until they respond to body needs by using it.
“When someone reaches dependency stage, they need treatment, where we now have in-patient and outpatient programmes and medical detoxification for you to ease the adverse effects in the body,” Taib said.
The centre's clinical supervisor Justus Mochumbe said at the social and experiment use stage, somebody can easily decide to stop because the brain has not been affected.
“The community gets confused here. They start questioning whether so and so has really stopped. What they do not know is that when this thing crosses the line, it now becomes addiction, and addiction is a disease of the brain,” he said.
The supervisor said the community needs to be educated because people who use drugs tend to hide, and they need to be treated like any other person who is sick.
“Sensitisation needs to be done because socially, people see it as a taboo and religiously, it is seen as immoral or a sin. People do not understand where addiction comes from,” he said.
He said drug addiction has no cure and it affects body, mind and soul. And despite the government doing a lot to create awareness, there is no political goodwill in fighting the scourge.
Mochumbe appealed to the government to fight addiction like any other disease and do social education to remove the stigma.
Taib said the solution is to identify addicts, bring them closer and understand how the drug has made them feel, act and behave.
He said they are working together with the Mombasa government, especially the Health department, to educate the society about drugs.
“We engage learning institutions and the community at large,” Taib said.
