14% Increase Narcotic intake

Police in the Kampala metropolitan area has started an operation to crack down on persons found using and abusing narcotic drugs.

Police say they have registered an overwhelming increase in the use of weed among the youth following the second wave of covid19.

The public bounced to the use of narcotics like Marijuana to treat covid 19 after reports circulated that the herbal drug was doing wonders for patients in countries abroad like Jamaica.

This prompted the bandwagon effect with families across the country opting to prevent and treat the virus in the comfort of their homes as opposed to hefty prices imposed on them at private hospitals and clinics.

Majority have resorted to either smoking the weed or boiling it with other concoctions for drinking .

Now Kampala police says there is an evident rise in the reckless and unregulated use of narcotics across the country as covid19 cases continue to surge countrywide.

According to the police acting Anti Narcotics Commissioner Tinka Zarugabe, data from various police stations in the Kampala metropolitan area have shown an increase in drug abuse, especially among the youths.

”From the time the country was declared to have the pandemic ,we are seeing a 14 percent increase in the use of narcotics ,specifically in Kampala, these statistics were captured in Kampala ,and mainly among the youth 15-34 years. He says”

14% Increase Narcotic intake

Zarugabe also says most people have got cancers, diabetes and now we have covid19, so some narcotics are taken because of pain.

He adds that the abuse is highest among Boda boda riders because they are frustrated as a result of the lockdown kicking them out of business.

‘’Among the Boda boda riders 68 percent of the accidents were attributed to the use of narcotics, . He says people are now mixing concoctions of both pharmaceutical and herbal drugs’ ‘he states

He adds that operations on users of narcotic drugs have been intensified in the Kampala metropolitan area and all those found abusing the drug will be arrested.

The Narcotics Law penalizes possession of illicit drugs with 10 to 25 years in prison or be fined up to 10 million shillings.

Trafficking—which encompasses everything from small sales to international export—is punishable with a life sentence.