Alarm as injective drug users on rise in Taita Taveta

Alcohol abuse is common among youth in Taita Taveta county.

However, recently, there has been an increase of heroin use, especially in Voi town. Youth are now injecting hard drugs with the majority of them said to have moved from Mombasa to Taita Taveta.

In Voi, Maweni and Sofia areas are know as the hotspots for drug and substance abuse.

Christopher Karingo, a 34-year-old father of three, has been a heroin addict for a decade now.

Immediately after he completed his Form 4 at Mshimba Secondary School in Tausa, Taita Taveta in 2010, Karingo was lucky to get a job in the construction of Voi -Wundanyi road.

“I was somehow lucky as I was taken to the laboratory to help in soil testing. Being a fast learner, I was absorbed and worked in the project for three-and-half years,” he said.

He was taking home Sh30,000 salary every month.

“This money was more than enough for me, given the fact that I had just finished secondary school. I would spend most of it on alcohol and cigarettes,” he said.

Gradually, he started smoking bhang because of influence from other friends. 

“There is this particular friend of mine, who would bring me bhang which had a different ‘taste’. Little did I know it was a mixture or cocktail of bhang and heroine,” he said.

He said slowly he found himself addicted to injecting hard drugs and by the time his three-year contract came to an end, he was addicted  to heroin.

“I decided to get married, but most of the time we would quarrel with my wife and she would leave me. I would sometimes sell some of my belongings just to get money for heroin. However, I thank God that my wife still lives with me after all this mess,” he said.

Karingo’s drug base is in Sofia area where at least 80 other youths are into heroin.

“We are about 80 of us, who have already been affected by the drug menace. The number is rising at an alarming rate, because more youth, especially the boda boda riders are getting into it,” he said.

James Mwangi, a 35-year-old father of two who was born and raised in Voi’s Maweni area, said he regrets ever injecting drugs.

“I just wish there was a way I could get out of this mess. It has been nine years already and if you do not have money to buy drugs, you are forced to sell your belongings or steal from other people,” he said.

He added, “Whatever I have gone through for the past nine years, I cannot wish it on my worst enemy.”

Mwangi works at a car wash within Voi and from the little money he gets, he supports his wife and two children and uses the balance to buy heroin.

At their Maweni base, he said, there are about 50 other youths who inject drugs.

“Most of them, I don't even know their real name. We just meet at the base where we get our ‘stuff’,” he said.

Hussein Charo is an addict. He has shown up at the Reachout Centre Trust Centre in Kariakor Voi Town with deep cuts on the head and legs and is limping.

Charo has been an addict for four years, moved from Mombasa to Voi when his parents decided to relocate to Taita Taveta.

“I got into a fight with another man over a woman. He hit me with a blunt object,” he says of his injuries.

“I was beaten thoroughly because of a woman. She is my lady, but the other person wants her. She has stuck by my side despite all these injuries,” he said.

Karingo, Mwangi and Charo have one appeal to the county government of Taita Taveta and National Authority for the Campaign against Drug Abuse (Nacada), to set up a rehabilitation centre and a Methadone Assisted Therapy  (MAT) clinic in the region.

“I used to take methadone while in Mombasa. I’m hopeful that a MAT clinic in Voi will help the hundreds of youth who are addicted to drugs,” Charo said.

Mwangi said he will be among the first persons to sign up for the daily methadone dosage if a clinic is opened in the region.

“Being a family man, I really want to be out of this mess. Methadone would be the best and I will be among the first persons to go for it,” he said.

Karingo said, “Here in Taita Taveta, we do not have a Rehab or Methadone Clinic. We wish to have those facilities operational."

Faustina Wali, village elder in Mwakingali and member of community policing in Voi said the drug menace in Taita Taveta is slowly consuming the youth.

“The problem of drugs in Voi is really affecting the young people. We have been doing a lot of community outreaches to try and educate them on the effect of drugs,” he said.

Reachout Centre Voi clinical officer Melvis Oyugi said they have been providing the needles and syringes to the 80 Persons Who Inject Drugs  (PWID) registered at their facility.

“We are offering needles and syringes to the PWID so that they can stop sharing needles. This is to help curb the spread of HIV/Aids among the PWID,” she said.

She said most of the PWID who visit their centres are those who have been attacked or those with severe withdrawal symptoms.

Reachout Centre Trust executive director Taib Abdulrahman  said they have over 150 youth who are known to be injecting drugs in Voi, Taita Taveta county.

“For the past few years, we have seen an immigration of youth who inject drugs from Mombasa and Nairobi and settling in Voi,” he said.

Abdulrahman said the County government has shown commitment in putting up a drug rehabilitation and treatment centre at Wesu Hospital in Wundanyi.

“We do not have a methadone programme in Taita Taveta, but the county has been putting up a drug treatment centre at Wesu. We all know that the biggest number of addicts in Taita are those who abuse alcohol, but we are hopeful that the Wesu centre can also have methadone supply for addicts,” he said.

Abdulrahman said they are still assessing the numbers of persons who inject drugs before rolling out a Methadone Assisted Therapy (MAT) clinic in the region.

Last week, Taita Taveta Governor Andrew Mwadime held a meeting with the Nacada board led by chairperson Prof Mabel Imbuga and chief executive officer Victor Okioma in Mombasa.

Among the things they deliberated on are areas of partnership in addressing the issue of drug and substance abuse in the county.

Mwadime said there is need to work with Nacada to address the drug menace in the county which affects the majority of the youth.

"We need your support in addressing this problem. Lack of jobs has pushed our youth to drug abuse and that is why I have been rallying investors and other partners to come and invest in our county so that we create jobs for our people," he said.

Okioma called on the governor to complete the Wesu rehabilitation centre to help those affected by drug abuse.

"We will work with the county government in creating awareness on the effects of drugs in the society," he said.