Adults should make it their business to keep children away from drugs

Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital staff led by their Chief Executive Officer Wilson Aruasa in a procession to mark World Day against Drug Abuse in Eldoret on June 23, 2023. [Peter Ochieng, Standard]

A recent headline in The Standard read; 'Children as young as six abusing drugs'. The news story further indicated that these children were exposed to drugs by their parents during family functions, according to a survey by National Authority for the Campaign Against Drug Abuse (Nacada).

In the education calendar, a six-year-old is just beginning the first grade in primary school, and barely knows how to write the full alphabet. He or she is learning how to tie their shoe laces as their baby teeth start to fall off. That child is still not only being introduced to peers in the neighbourhood or pupils in school, but also to the outside world, away from their parents or guardians' attentive care.