The Anti-Narcotics Unit (ANU) of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) will be expanded to enhance its capacity.

The Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja has said plans are underway to integrate drug trafficking operations into the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) to ensure a tougher crackdown on drugs. According to the police boss, the ATPU has more resources and will be able to step up efforts to tackle drug abuse.

The police boss, who was speaking during the launch of a report on drug and substance use among university students in Kenya, also said that while Kenya has historically been a transit point for illicit substances, research now indicates a growing domestic drug use problem.

Kanja also proposed that owing to the increasing sale and use of drugs and substances within the universities, officers from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) need to contain the situation. The Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has also supported the proposal.

“Why don’t we go back to IG and make sure that we have intelligence officers working inside the university, with the students and with the police officers?” the CS posed, adding that would help them get proper intervention.

Growing use

On Thursday last week, the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Nacada) said the environment within the universities and the neighbourhoods are not drug-free spaces, and has led to increased availability and accessibility for alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis.

According to the study, there is an emerging gradual penetration of new psychoactive substances within the universities particularly methamphetamine and prescription drugs. It also showed that alcohol was the most (87.3 per cent) available substance followed by cigarettes (64.4 per cent).

Others are shisha (41.2per cent), vape or e-cigarettes (31 per cent), nicotine pouches (30.7 per cent), Kuber (23per cent) and snuff or chewed tobacco (22.1per cent).

The report titled ‘Status of Drugs and Substance Abuse among University Students in Kenya 2024’ was released on Thursday. It showed that female students were becoming increasingly vulnerable to drug use.

“The revelation that female students across the universities are having higher prevalence of moderately severe and severe depressive disorders compared to their male counterparts is a matter of concern,” he said.