Prevalence And Patterns Of Early Drug Abuse Among Clients Attending Ngara Medically Assisted Therapy Clinic Nairobi, Kenya

A Retrospective Study.

Abstract

Substance abuse and its effects on physical and psychosocial health is becoming a global public health concern, mostly affecting adolescents and youth. Globally, 29.5 million people suffer from drug use disorders, opioids being the most harmful. A report by NACADA (2016), reveals that 11.7% of boys and 5.4% of girls in schools abuse drugs and that initiation of drug and alcohol use is likely to occur during adolescence. The objective of this study was to establish the age of onset to drug use and pattern of substance abuse among patients attending the Ngara Methadone Clinic. Data was collected on sex, age of onset of drug use, age of onset of heroin use and the type of drug first used from the standard government registers and patients’ medical records for clients attending medically assisted therapy at the Ngara Methadone Clinic from February 2017 to March 2018. A total of 388 clients participated in the study. Findings revealed that the mean age of onset to drug use was 16 years. Cannabis was the most commonly used drug (35.9%) followed by Tobacco (29.1%), alcohol (12%), heroin (11.3%), khat (5.9%), benzodiazepines (3%), glue (1.5%), amphetamines (0.3%), cocaine (0.3%) and barbiturates (1%). Most participants used more than one drug at a time. A two-sample independent t-test revealed that there was a significant difference in the mean ages of onset of other drug use (M =16.3,
SD 4.6) and mean ages of onset of heroin use (M=21.8, SD=5.7). The study recommends the creation of awareness on drug use in schools and subsequent screening for drugs in both primary and secondary schools.