ALCOHOL ABUSE

This is a real issue in our midst, and what’s worse is we either don’t know when we abuse alcohol and other substances, or we do and abuse them anyway. Not only is it rampant among the youth, it’s as bad with the older generation. By the time you hear cases of drunk driving carnage in the news on a weekly basis, have instances where you walk by people, some young enough to be your peers and others old enough to be your parents, passed out in a drunken stupor in the streets at times in pools of their own excreta, then as a nation we have a gargantuan alcohol and substance abuse problem that must be addressed at the root with haste lest we degenerate into substance induced anarchy.

Celebrating is good. Encouraged. There is also such a thing as excess celebration – it is at this point that you, the substance abuser, are not in control of your motor abilities and are a nuisance to those around you. As Kenyans, we mostly drink to finish (hii mzinga lazima ianguke!) And not simply to enjoy. We tend to forget that we don’t all have the same alcohol thresholds so if person X can drink from dusk till dawn and still maintain a semblance of sanity, it doesn’t mean person Y has the ability to do the same. Maybe X is a functioning alcoholic (if there is such a thing at all) and Y is a light weight. We also have a culture of not addressing issues but instead hiding behind alcohol and other substances to avoid them. When that substance haze wears off, guess what; the issues will still be there, staring you in the face and there you will be, staring down the barrel of a gun. This applies mostly to the older generation, because you will find men resorting to the bottle because “they can’t deal with family drama” and women doing the same because the drama at home is not being dealt with but left to fester. The children in a scenario like this are likely to follow in their parents’ footsteps.

Is Kenya a nation of alcoholics and substance abusers? Is that the legacy we are leaving the coming generations? Our nation has been ranked among the top ten heaviest drinking nations in the continent. To some, that is a rank to celebrate. To others, like me, that’s worrisome. It’s an indicator that as a nation we have no discipline nor control, and if I were a psychologist, I would probably assume that this is a nation of escapists. We can’t go on like this; it’s so counterproductive when some people are driving to work on Monday morning while others are stumbling out of a bar somewhere in the nation. It’s no wonder most of this generation is predominantly broke! We need to take responsibility of our consumption habits and be disciplined. Overconsumption only endangers your health and life.

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