Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris has come to the defense of drug and substance users saying they should not be jailed.

Passaris was speaking on Friday, February 23, at the Redeemed Christian Church Solution Centre in Nairobi.

It was a celebration of 16 young men and women from Kibra who had overcome drug addiction. The event was presided over by Second Lady Pastor Dorcas Rigathi.

Passaris outlined measures that had been taken up by government to address the drug menace in the country.

“We have realised that drug users are not criminals. They are people that are unwell and require help. We have harm reduction centres in Mathari, Ngara, Mombasa…” she explained.

The lawmaker went on to describe certain process used to help addicts get off drugs completely.

“We started off with something simple like needle exchange because we saw that HIV numbers were so high and it was because people were sharing needles.

“As a government we came up with the needle exchange program where you use it we give you a new one and then we came up with methadone… it’s a synthetic drug with no side effects but it deals with the urges that you have,” Passaris added.

She wondered why such drug users were jailed instead of being taken through rehabilitation programs.

“In our prisons we have so many people that are there for probably having one or two sticks of bhang.”

According to her, jailing someone for personal use of drugs should not be criminalised.

“Personal use until we get the person weaned off should not be criminalised because they need help. It is the drug peddlers we need to put behind bars,” she added.

Passaris said the fight against illegal substances should be focused on peddlers who make them easily accessible to the users.

She urged the church to embrace drug addicts instead of watching as they waste away in dens where peddlers flock to supply them with the poisonous substances.