| dc.description.abstract | The intensity of drug abuse in Kenya has been a major concern in recent years and those that are mostly affected are the youth especially the matatu workers. The study focused on matatu workers aged between 21-25 years and was carried out in Kiambaa constituency in Kiambu county where the problem of drug abuse among the matatu workers was noted as highly prevalent. The study set out to find out the extent to which drug abuse affected the matatu workers. Matatu workers in this study refer to the matatu drivers and touts.
The objectives of the study were 1. To identify the characteristics of matatu workers who use drugs, 2. To establish the types of drugs abused by matatu workers in Kiambu county, 3. To investigate the level of drug use by matatu workers in Kiambu county and finally to assess affects of drugs on matatu workers who abuse drugs in Kiambu County. To achieve the stated objectives, non- probability sampling was used to gather a total of 100 respondents. A structured questionnaire was employed to gather information from the matatu workers and purposive sampling was used to select the key informants and the termini in order to collect the information. The raw data collected was processed using SPSS (statistical package), both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data.
Findings from the study revealed that 94% of the matatu workers were men and 6% were women. The education level of the matatu workers was low with only 21 % having completed secondary level of education. 31 % of the matatu workers said that alcohol was used, 26% mentioned miraa, 25% of the respondents said they used Tobacco, while 13% used marijuana and 5% used cocaine. Therefore, 60% of the respondents accepted that they were excessively involved in drugs. This was actually referred to as a problem because it involved the whole society.
The study found different ways in which the matatu workers cope with the drug abuse problem. They said that they fought their spouses, quarreled, and they also admitted that drug abuse affected their families and friends. They said that they felt frustrated, lacked focus, had no finances because they used their money in buying the drugs of abuse and that they quarreled. There were some mitigation measures put in place to deal with drug abuse. These were police raids in the Chang'aa dens, counseling by the parents while still young, public barazas that target the matatu workers, church leaders to hold crusades and seminars. However, the respondents felt that the stakeholders needed to intensity their efforts in addressing the effects of drugs abuse among the matatu workers. Future studies should address the effects of drug related activities on poverty levels in the community and the instability in families because of drugs and
substance use. | en_US |
