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The agency tasked with fighting drug and alcohol abuse has painted a grim picture of addiction in Kenya, showing that children as young as six are being introduced to smoking while others are having their alcohol use debut at only age seven.

A six-year-old child is in the last year of nursery school while a seven-year-old is in Grade One.

According to findings that the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Nacada) shared with media houses in Nairobi yesterday, alcohol is the most abused substance in the country, followed by tobacco, miraa and bhang in that order.

Nacada’s national survey on the status of drugs and substance use also shows increased demand for cheaper and readily available alcoholic products especially chang’aa, traditional alcoholic beverages and potable spirits.

Data shows at least 4.7 million Kenyans aged 15 to 65 use at least one substance, 3.2 million use or abuse alcohol, 2.3 million others use tobacco, 1.7 million take a cocktail of multiple drugs while 964,737 and 518,807 others use Khat and cannabis respectively.

It also showed evidence of underage drug and substance use despite well-documented negative implications and consequences of early initiation into drug use.

“Data shows that the average age category for initiation of tobacco, alcohol, khat, cannabis, prescription drugs, cocaine and heroin was 16 to 20 years.

 However, the lowest age of initiation for tobacco was six years, alcohol (seven years), cannabis (eight years), khat (nine years), prescription drugs (eight years), heroin (18 years) and cocaine (20 years),” the report reveals, painting a worrying picture of young children being initiated into drug use, some of which have been linked to cancer and mental health illnesses.

The data comes against a backdrop of primary and secondary students in Nairobi urging the government to protect them from exposure to drugs and substance abuse in and outside school even as the county government unveiled a raft of measures to crack down on liquor stores in residential areas and near learning institutions. During a children’s pre-conference event held at Moi Forces Academy in Nairobi, learners pointed out the issues hindering them from concentrating on learning, including drugs and substance abuse, mental health challenges and insecurity/crime.

“You can find a child is going to school but when they reach home, they become an entirely different person because of peer pressure and parental influence, which leads to a child abusing drugs. Perhaps you could ask the liquor sellers to check on whom they are selling to,” the learners said.

The children spoke at the weekend ahead of the upcoming region’s education conference. “Views the learners expressed will be presented at the children’s conference for discussion at the policymakers conference slated this week,” said Nairobi Regional Director of Education Margaret Lesuuda.

Among primary school pupils, the Nacada report shows a tobacco prevalence rate of 3.2 per cent or 154,461 learners, making it the most used or abused substance in that demographic. It was followed by alcohol at 2.6 per cent or 127,124 pupils and Khat and bhang at 2.3 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively.

Among secondary school students, the highest alcohol was the most consumed substance, used by 3.8 per cent of the learners. It was followed by prescription drugs at 3.6 per cent and khat, tobacco and bhang in that order with a prevalence of 2.6, 2.5 and 1.8 per cent.

Data from Nacada shows that one in every eight Kenyans aged 15 to 65 years (or about 3.2 million people) were currently using alcohol. By gender, one in every five males aged 15 and 65 years (2,511,763) and one in every 20 females (687,356) were currently using alcohol. Overall, Western Kenya had the highest prevalence of current use of alcohol at 23.8 per cent followed by Coast at 13.9 per cent and Central at 12.8 per cent.

Nairobi region had the highest prevalence of manufactured legal alcohol at 10.3 per cent followed by Central with 10 per cent and Eastern at 8.4 per cent.

Western region had the highest prevalence of current use of chang’aa at 11.4 per cent followed by Nyanza and Rift Valley at 6.3 per cent and 3.6 per cent respectively.

While Western had the highest prevalence of current use of traditional liquor at 12.9 per cent followed by Coast with 7.4 per cent and Nyanza at 2.2 per cent, Central had the highest prevalence of potable spirits at 4.1 per cent followed by Coast and Rift Valley at 3.2 and 3.1 per cent respectively.

The Nacada report has also shown that one in every 53 Kenyans aged 15 to 65 years said they were currently using cannabis, with Nairobi having the highest prevalence at 6.3 per cent followed by Nyanza with 2.4 per cent and then Coast at 1.9 per cent.

“One in every 26 males aged 15 – 65 years (475,770) and one in every 333 females (43,037) were currently using cannabis. The number of people currently using cannabis has increased by 90 percent in the last five years,” says the report, capturing a sharp and equally worrying spike in the number of Kenyans who get illegally high.

Acting Nacada Chief Executive Officer John Muteti said the authority has adopted a different approach to the campaign against alcohol and drug abuse, following political goodwill from the country’s top leadership, Parliament and other State agencies.

“This approach has seen more public participation and community involvement at the grassroots, and we are happy that in the few months that the Board has given that policy shift, we have seen the fruits of this strategy,” said Prof Muteti yesterday during an editors’ meeting with Nacada.

In coming weeks, Nacada intends to launch nationwide media campaigns aimed at responding to various issues identified through the surveys that the authority has undertaken.

From its latest survey, the agency found out that one in every six Kenyans aged 15 to 65 years were currently using at least one drug or substance.

“Western region had the highest prevalence of current use of at least one drug or substance of abuse 26.4 per cent followed by Eastern at 20.7 per cent and Nairobi at 19.1 per cent.

The data also shows that 48.5 per cent of Kenyans have the perception that there has been an increase in the number of bars over the last five years in their community with Central region recording the highest perception level at 74.1 per cent followed by Nairobi at 65.3 per cent and Eastern at 47.8 per cent.