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Join fight against drug and substance abuse
A drug user injects himself with heroin, one of the expensive drugs on market. PHOTO/FAISWAL KASIRYE
What you need to know:
The issue: Drug and substance abuse.
Our view: Let these series that we are publishing not simply be interesting reads that will soon be forgotten once the next big story breaks but rather, let them spur us all to acknowledge drug and substance abuse by our young people for the problem that it is and then do something about it.
For the last few days, this publication has been running a series that is a result of a month long investigation into drugs at universities and higher institutions of learning.
The stories reveal how easy it is for students to access drugs and in turn get hooked and end up in hard to break life-debasing and threatening addictions. According to Bruno Kamoga, a former guild president at Makerere University Business school, drugs are sold by fellow students who get them from ghettos around Kampala, such as Kamwokya and Kawempe.
Some of the most common drugs accessed by the young people include marijuana, tobacco and methamphetamine.
These are usually sold in form of cookies, cupcakes, tea, rolled joints, etc. A study conducted in Kampala slums and published in the National Library of Medicine in 2023 found that 34.9 percent of adolescents aged 14-19 years reported illicit drug use, and 16.1 percent were identified as high risk alcohol users. It is also true that substance abuse is the leading contributor to mental health issues in Uganda.
That this investigation focused on university students doesn’t mean that the problem doesn’t exist in other factions of society but draws attention to the need to do something to curb it at that point. This is where parents, caretakers and guardians need to rework their parenting and guidance styles and strategies to cater for these seemingly new challenges.
While in the past, parent’s pep talk to their children before sending them off to school was about academics and for some, sex and sexuality, drug and substance abuse must now be added to that list.
The drug and substance abuse problem might be a big one that needs a multi-pronged approach to be dealt with but we each must start somewhere, play a role however small it might seem. For instance, talk to your children about drugs not in passing or using threats or vague tales and sayings but explain to them candidly the consequences of indulging in this evil.
This might call for parents to educate themselves ably on drugs by way of research. Tell them of all the tricks that are used to get unsuspecting students hooked. We have all heard of a story or two of people who ate drug laced cakes or cookies unknowingly.
Arm your children with relevant and appropriate knowledge. This takes away the mystery which creates the allure that then leads young people down the slippery path of addiction.
Let these series that we are publishing not simply be interesting reads that will soon be forgotten once the next big story breaks but rather, let them spur us all to acknowledge drug and substance abuse by our young people for the problem that it is and then do something about it.
