In the newspaper account, the police officer was quoted saying he believes that the vast sums of money employed in fighting drug trafficking, supply and possession, would be better used treating addicts and educating youngsters on the dangers of drug addiction.

The controversial statement is bound to attract much criticism from government quarters especially in light of the fact that the government has recently taken steps to re-classify cannabis as a harder drug. Campaigners however, contend that the current laws are hypocritical and that the prevailing ABC classification of marcotics is indefensible. The classification which is often described in such terms as 'crude, ineffective and riddled with anomalies' is a 1971 ranking of the drugs and a proscription of penalties for offences related to each drug.

Critics also point at the recent downgrading and then upgrading of cannabis in the classification system as evidence that the current system is open to manipulation by politicians seeking to score points with the public. Vitally, critics point out that alcohol and tobacco, which are in themselves the cause of so much more social cost in death, stress and health damage are not even included in the ABC system.

new day?

As we approach the election, matters to do with health and society are being cast aside, but they may be just as important as governance and economic matters. Is substance abuse a cause for concern in Kenya today? There are endless reports in the international media of our ports being used as transit points for the international drug trade. Last year's massive cocaine bust attests to the veracity of these claims, but are we then sitting on a time bomb? How much of those drugs remain in the country, and what is their effect on our families and the wider society?

As a middle class begins to develop in our cities and there is an increase in the number of Kenyans with a readily disposable income, there is every possibility that drug trafficking within the country will grow in scope, and with it an unpredictable effect on law enforcement, the schools system and social order. Yesterday, there was a programme on television here about the noxious Americas gang MS13. From a little neighbourhood outfit, it was transformed by drug money into one of the most menacing organisations on earth, its claws stretching into Central America and the entire United States. Drug profits can have a real transformative effect on what are at the moment dangerous but manageable gangs. With the proceeds of the drug trade, these gangs can take on a power and reach deadly enough to take on the police and any other resistance and come out on top. With the proceeds so lucrative, in many parts of the world drug money is so powerful it buys judges, policemen and politicians and essentially subverts entire societies to the whims of the underworld.

Is it not best then, that we cut the ground from under these organisations before they are further developed? Is legalising drugs the solution? Several studies have proposed that legalisation that regulates and manages drug trade will be far more effective at curtailing the dangers of recreational drugs to the public than a system of prohibition that simply sends the industry underground. Under such a system, drugs would be dispensed at pharmacies in strict doses, or from licensed retailers. An education regime would ensure that users were aware of the very real dangers of consuming these drugs and society could rob the drugs of their 'cool' effect, the thrill of rebellion which pushes impressionable young people into consuming them.

what cost?

The restricted market on drugs leads to the growth of an underworld of vicious vice, desperate people in the thrall of drug dealers who steal or prostitute themselves to pay the exorbitant prices charged by unscrupulous gangs that exercise complete control on them. Moreover the lack of quality regulation means that many drugs are impure, with added substances that are extremely poisonous.

It is true that legalisation would make these drugs more common, but would that not then rob them of their novelty and take away the power from the gangs that manufacture and trade in them? Organised crime is attracted to the drug trade, like it was to alcohol in Prohibition America, because of the great profits available. Legalisation took away this business from them, and greatly diminished their power to organise against the law.

What strategies, if any, do the main parties hope to adopt to contain the problem of drugs trafficking and consumption if elected into office? What do we here think?