Over Half Of Kenyan University Students Use Drugs At Least Once – NACADA Report
According to a new NACADA research, nearly half of all Kenyan university students had used at least one drug or narcotic throughout their lifetime.
The survey, titled Status of Drugs and Substance Use Among University Students in Kenya, tried to determine the prevalence of drug and substance misuse among Kenyan college students last year.
45.6 percent of students admitted to abusing at least one drug or substance in their lifetime.
This included beer (40.5%), cigarettes (13.4%), shisha (10.9%), vapes (8.5%), and nicotine pouches (4.6%).
Status of Drugs and Substance Use among University Students in Kenya, 2024
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Miraa was also common among students (10.1%), muguka (9.9%), and cannabis smokers (14.9%) and cannabis edibles (11.9%).
In the previous 30 days, at least 26.6% of students had engaged in drug and substance misuse.
Students at private institutions were more likely to participate in drug and substance misuse (35.1%) than those at public universities (22.6%).
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Furthermore, private university students were more likely to experience severe depression than public university students.
The inability to cope with stressful situations, unresolved childhood trauma, gender-based violence, gambling, and having a boyfriend/girlfriend or role model who is already taking drugs were identified as key risk factors for drug abuse among students.
Guidance and counselling services, mentorship programmes, cheap rehabilitative treatments, parental supervision, and sensitization initiatives across all institutions were among the proposed mitigation strategies.
“The university management through the relevant department needs to establish vibrant recovery communities that celebrate sobriety integrated with a strong component of continuous emotional and social support services for students on the recovery path,” the report read in part.
Over Half Of Kenyan University Students Use Drugs At Least Once – NACADA Report
