By Allan Kibet
The National Authority for Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) has castigated the directive by the Ministry of Education that requires high school students to undergo a mandatory drug test.
In a statement released on Thursday, the body termed the directive by the Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha as illegal, saying that NACADA is not involved in any drug tests.
“There is currently no law in the country making drug testing mandatory for learners,” reads the statement.
NACADA in the statement that was done by its CEO Victor Okioma explained that drug testing should be part of a comprehensive intervention program and thus should not be used as the only solution to an emerging drug problem. This, they say is because the window of detection varies amongst drugs and therefore, some may not show up during the drug tests.
“Drug testing is recommended as part of incident management and should be within a licensed and accredited facility. School administrations should use ‘evidence approach’,” he advised.
The directive required students to undergo the mandatory drug test in a move that aims at identifying unruly students that were blamed for causing unrests that led to many school properties being burnt down recently.
The exercised was first introduced at Maranda High School.
