Pubdate: Sat, 24 May 2003 Source: East African Standard, The (Kenya) Copyright: 2003 The East African Standard Contact: http://www.eastandard.net/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1743 Author: Pauline Kageni 400,000 YOUTHS 'USING DRUGS' About 400,000 Kenyan youths are being initiated into drug abuse annually, a health conference was told yesterday. Participants at the conference, held by the National Tobacco-Free Initiative Committee (NTFIC), heard that the youth used tobacco as the initial drug. The shocking statistics were given by NTFIC chairman, Prof Peter A Odhiambo. The conference was held to launch a brochure on the adverse effects of tobacco. Present at the function was Joseph Kaguthi, the National Agency for the Campaign Against Drug Abuse (Nacada) boss and Dr Ahmed E O Ogwell, Head of Department of Non-Communicable Diseases at the Health Ministry. Odhiambo observed that tobacco was casting a heavy economic burden on the country, as Kenya's most productive age-group was now dying prematurely. The committee pledged to launch a more comprehensive booklet by the end of the year. This year's World No-Tobacco Day will be observed on May 31, 2003. He lamented that the Kenyan Law had not yet passed the Tobacco Control Bill while Tanzania had done so. - --- MAP posted-by: Alex