Nairobi has the highest prevalence of current use of cannabis in Kenya, a survey by the National Authority for the Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NACADA) has shown.
The survey which focused on the “Status of Drugs and Substance Use (DSU) in Kenya, 2022” showed that Nairobi led in cannabis use at 6.3pc followed by Nyanza (2.4pc) and Coast (1.9pc).
The statistics also revealed that the number of people currently using cannabis has increased by 90 percent in the last 5 years.
One in every 53 Kenyans aged 15 – 65 years (518,807) were currently using cannabis while one in every 26 males aged 15 – 65 years (475,770) were currently using the drug.
For females, the statistics showed that 1 in every 333 females (43,037) were currently using cannabis.
“Results showed that the prevalence of cannabis use almost doubled over the last five years. The growing demand for cannabis especially among the youth could be attributed to the low perception of harm due to myths, misinformation, and misconceptions,” said NACADA during release of the Survey on Monday.
Most abused substance in Kenya
Alcohol is the most widely used substance of abuse in Kenya with 0ne in every eight Kenyans aged 15-65 (3, 199, 119) people currently consuming alcohol.
“One in every 5 males aged 15 – 65 years (2,511,763) and 1 in every 20 females (687,356) were currently using alcohol,” NACADA stated
Western region stands out with the highest prevalence of alcohol use standing at 23.8pc followed by Coast (13.9pc) and Central (12.8pc). The region also recorded high use of use of traditional liquor (12.9pc) followed by Coast (7.4pc) and Nyanza (2.2pc).
According to the statistics, the high prevalence in Western is also attributable to the use of chang’aa in the region which stands at 11.4pc followed by Nyanza at 6.3pc and Rift Valley at 3.6pc.
Central region had the highest prevalence of potable spirits (4.1pc) followed by Coast (3.2pc) and Rift Valley (3.1pc);
Nairobi region had the highest prevalence of manufactured legal alcohol at 10.3pc followed by Central (10.0pc) and Eastern (8.4pc).
