East Africa is experiencing an increased inflow and use of illegal harmful, mind-altering and sense-numbing deadly narcotics.
Unlike cocaine and marijuana, the previously unknown heroin is steadily gaining a sizeable market in the region, raising serious concerns over health and productivity among youths. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Control (UNODC) latest report warns that whereas most of the reported heroin in the region is always destined for Western markets, there is a spin-off trade for local market and consumption.
Although East Africa member states have relevant institutions, policies and laws required to mitigate the supply and use of dangerous drugs, trafficking of similar illegal substances is on the rise, thus necessitating additional multi-stakeholder effort.
UNODC further warns that East Africa, which had never been identified by any Western country as an origin of illicit drugs, was sadly fast turning into a potential sanctuary of all sorts of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, with Tanzania leading Kenya and Uganda.
In 2019, during a drug trafficking trial of Kenyan brothers Baktash and Ibrahin Akasha, the US government revealed that the pair and two other associates had partners in Uganda. This source also revealed that Akasha's network had discussed using laboratories in Burundi, Uganda and Tanzania to manufacture the ephedrine and turn it into methamphetamine.
The recent study findings on substance abuse in Africa published last year revealed that East Africa has one of the highest rates of substance abuse in the world, ranking Uganda the third with 65.6 per cent behind Ethiopia (68.7 per cent) and Mozambique at 76.7 per cent on the list of 10 nations with the worst per capita substance abuse.
Marijuana, tobacco, and khat were mentioned among highly-consumed drugs, but with cocaine, amphetamine and heroin rising up steadily in East Africa. According to UNODC Eastern Africa, the region is attractive to international drug trafficking syndicates as they are quick to exploit non-existent or porous border points, as well as serious deficiencies in the criminal justice systems.
In Uganda, the prevalence of drug abuse among youths is 70.1 per cent, which is a lot higher than that of East Africa that is approximated at 45.5 per cent. This was according to a Kisenyi-based study that examined risk factors influencing drug abuse among the youths in the slummy area of Kampala district.
In order to tap into legal and smooth cultivation of marijuana, whose global market value is estimated at $44 billion, and projected to hit $60 billion by 2030, Uganda strengthened the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substance (Control) Act, 2023/4. The legislation was meant to help Uganda export and earn foreign exchange from the global cannabis market that is valued at $34bn.
According to the 2023 Uganda Police Annual Crime Report, a total of 2,113 cases of narcotics/ drugs was reported to the police countrywide. Although the same report indicated a decrease of 24.5 per cent in the reported narcotic cases, UNODC Eastern Africa warns that the low seizure figures in the region are an indication that few resources are allocated to drug control, and that international border controls are weak.
Sourced from Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, and with its supply and use steadily rising, the surge is driven by various risk factors that include weak enforcement, corruption among the elites, ineffective border controls (porous borders) and other social economic factors such as high unemployment, poverty levels, cultural acceptance and social instability.
Narcotics abuse is associated with increased risk of road traffic accidents in East Africa as the World Health Organisation warns that road traffic deaths rose by 17 per cent in Africa last year. This goes without mentioning other adverse effects of drug abuse such as crime, HIV infections, risky sexual behaviors, rape and intimate partner violence, among several others.
Further serious warning was recently sounded by a joint study by Makerere University School of Public Health and Butabika national referral mental hospital, which revealed that substance abuse (both drugs and alcohol) is the leading cause of mental disorders affecting more than 15 million Ugandans, which is about three thirds of the population.
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Responding to the narcotics crisis in Uganda, former police IGP, Gen Kale Kayihura, once remarked that Uganda has since ceased to be a passage of expensive narcotic drugs and now a destination and serious user. Unless East African countries under the umbrella of East African Community (EAC) begin to pull together to fight the trafficking and use of the three deadly narcotics - heroin, cocaine and marijuana among the productive ages, the fruits of regional integration won't make sense.
East Africa member states must, therefore, pull together to push back against the menace of narcotics by eliminating corruption among enforcement agencies, strengthening the private sector since it contributes significantly to employment for redundant youths; strengthened enforcement with increased budgetary support; increased public awareness-raising campaigns; increased monitoring of porous borders; procurement of advanced equipment to detect and examine drugs of organic nature as traditional equipments and machines are less efficient; strengthen cooperation with other drug enforcement authorities and sharing of intelligence world over are some of the critical interventions needed to avert the crisis.
