Effects of drug abuse among the youth in Kenyan institutions of higher learning

  

Date Posted: 5/23/2019 4:08:00 AM

Posted By: Dana05  Membership Level: Silver  Total Points: 317

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Institutions of higher learning in Kenya range from universities, colleges to technical training and vocational institutions. All these institutions differ from other institutions of learning such as primary and secondary schools in that in institutions of higher learning, learners have more freedom in comparison. Although there are rules in all of the institutions, in institutions of higher learning, there is more freedom to the learners for example, in institutions of higher learning, the learners are only expected to dress decently while in the other learning institutions the learners in most cases have uniforms which they are expected to wear depending on the time of the day or the activity they are supposed to engage in.

Most of the students in institutions of higher learning are above the age of eighteen and thus have access to the legal drugs in Kenya legally. In addition, after attaining the age of eighteen and thus becoming adults, most parents trust their children to make the right decisions in the issues they face in their life. Accordingly, most parents do not follow up on the activities that their children engage in while they are away at school. All most parents do is ensure they children have the resources they need to study and live comfortably. This freedom of choice combined with the fact that parents do not mind their activities means that these young adults are free to engage in drug abuse.

In institutions of higher learning, both legal and illegal drugs are readily available in centers of entertainment both within and outside the institutions and from students who purchase them from suppliers and sell them to their colleagues in the institutions. The easy accessibility of these drugs combined with the finances the students get from their parents or part time jobs and freedom to make

decisions on matters that concern them, means these students can engage in any form of drug abuse they like. The institutions of higher learning also do not have a framework in place that controls the abuse of drugs among the students. However, these institutions deserve credit since they have departments and offices in place that aim at educating the students on the effects of drug abuse. They also organize seminars, forums and walks that are also aimed creating awareness among the students on the types of drugs and their effects. The effects of drug abuse range from short-term effects such as truancy, hallucinations, intoxication, increased or loss of appetite to long term effects such as loss of life or diseases such as cancer, liver cirrhosis among others. The effects of drug abuse among the youth can be classified into various categories. These categories include effects to the individual, effects to the society and effects to the nation.

The effects of drug abuse to an individual vary depending on the type of drugs which they abuse. Depressants such as alcohol are known to cause intoxication. Once an individual is intoxicated, they loss control of their speech and movement. It is therefore common for someone who abuses depressants to stagger or say anything that comes to their mind. Depressants also cause lack of appetite and cause addiction. Alcohol is also known to cause liver cirrhosis in the long term. Narcotics such as tobacco also cause addiction and result in various types of cancer such as cancer of the throat and lungs in the long-term. They also cause depressed appetite. Hallucinogens such as cannabis sativa are associated with increased appetite, addiction and mental disorders which result in the long-term.

Apart from the direct effects from the drugs, they also suffer other indirect effects. One of these effects is truancy where they don’t attend their classes due to the effects of the drugs or so that they can indulge in their abuse of drugs. Another effect is tendency to violence. After abusing drugs, these young adults tend to result to violence at the slightest provocation or disagreement. Abuse of drugs also causes them to engage in irresponsible sexual behavior which results in sexually transmitted diseases and infections and unwanted pregnancies. Unwanted pregnancies lead to some of them dropping out of school so as to take care of their children or in numerous abortions to escape the responsibility of parenthood. Another effect is poor performance and dropping out of school where the drug abusers are either discontinued from their studies in the institutions due to indiscipline or poor performance or leave school on their own accord due to their degenerative habits.

The effects of drug abuse to the society are numerous. In case where the young adults lack money to satisfy their addictions they may result to theft to obtain the finances they require. This results in the loss of property to the members of the society while the young adults face arrest and prosecution for their activities. Violent activities by the drug abusers in most cases results in harm to other people to extent of fatal injuries and even death in aggravated situations. The termination of studies by students means loss of funds and other resources invested in them by their parents. Sexually transmitted diseases puts a burden on their parents and guardians to provide finances required to get proper medical attention. Unplanned pregnancies may lead to death and loss of loved ones to relatives in the case of poorly conducted abortions while children resulting from these pregnancies puts a burden on the families of the affected. Families of these students may lose their loved ones in the case of death resulting from diseases such as HIV or the criminal activities they engage in such as theft.

The effects of drug abuse among the youth to the nation are that the nation losses its youth who could otherwise be engaged in economic development of the nation. There is also an increase in crime activities since the drug abusers engage in theft and violence. These criminal activities also result in loss of national unity and compromises national integration. The young in the society also lack role models in whose footsteps to walk in. The nation also losses potential leaders of the future to drug abuse. The effects of drug abuse to the youth are numerous and it is therefore necessary to create awareness among the youth on the effects of drug abuse so as to curb this menace.

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