Fight Against Drug Abuse: Collective Community Engagement Needed

Drugs and substance misuse has become rampant in our society today. The segment of the population mostly concerned with this ill is the youth who are considered as the future of the country. The alarming rate of drug consumption and trafficking is also attributed to socio-political crisis in the North West and South West Regions as well as other security concerns in other parts of the country. The high rate of drug abuse even among adolescent school children is a cause for concern as the phenomenon has fuelled insecurity, violence and criminality in both urban and rural areas of the country. This has led to nefarious consequences on the stability of communities. It has also fragilized peace and thwarted community efforts for peace in various communities especially in the conflict-hit regions. Young people under the influence of drugs have become so intransigent, showing no respect to community values like respect for parents and the elderly which hitherto formed the basis of our society. Not even their teachers are accorded respect anymore by the drug-addicted generation. This shows the extent of moral decay and decadence our communities are subjected to as drug trafficking and consumption surges. The degree of obstinacy demonstrated nowadays by young children has pushed some communities in the South West and North West Regions to come out and publicly denounce drug abuse and drug peddlers. The past few weeks have been awash with street demonstrations by mostly women in communities like Tinto, Ikiliwindi, Muea, Tiko, Check-point Buea, amongst other areas, who have vehemently condemned the increasing rate of drug consumption and the negative impact on society. In some of those protests, the women carried tree branches and peace plants and performed traditional rites to deter consumers and drug dealers from continuing the illicit business. In other areas, dealers were fished-out and given public lynching and shaming as a deterrent. While they think a public outcry through street protest may curb drug abuse, they also believe attacking drug peddlers in the communities will go a long way to eradicate the phenomenon. According to them, the major challenge is to tackle the suppliers of the different types of drugs and weed them out of the communities so that the youngsters will not have where to get the substances. While some pundits hail the initiative to hold the bull by the horn by tackling drug dealers and denouncing abusive consumption, others hold the families responsible. It is often said that the family is the smallest unit of society and those drug addicts certainly have families. Parents should therefore assume their responsibility squarely by instilling good moral education in their offsprings and educate them on what is good and evil. It starts wi...