Two people were arrested at a city club as the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) intensified its crackdown on shisha dens.
The two were arrested on Wednesday February 26 night after NACADA’s enforcement officers raided Paris Lounge in Lang’ata in Nairobi and confiscated a large consignment of shisha products.
During the raid, NACADA officers seized 39 shisha bongs, 11 cartons of charcoal, 12 cartons of assorted flavours, and 13 charcoal carriers.
Two individuals, a shisha seller and a supervisor, were arrested.
The operation will continue to other joints.
The enforcement operation was led by NACADA’s Director of Compliance and Enforcement, James Koskei, who said the sting operation is part of routine compliance checks targeting illegal shisha trade in the city.
“NACADA is the body mandated to control alcohol and drug abuse in the country. We are here this evening on our normal routine compliance checks on this facility. We are coming here specifically to enforce the shisha rules,” said Koskei.
Koskei said that the crackdown follows a court of appeal ruling that upheld Gazette Notice No. 292 of 2017, which bans the sale, promotion, and use of shisha in Kenya.
The appellate court dismissed a petition challenging the ban, giving NACADA full legal backing to enforce the law.
“We all know that the shisha rules under Gazette Notice No. 292 of 2017 are in force. Our Court of Appeal threw out the petition that had been filed against that particular Gazette Notice,” Koskei explained.
NACADA unveiled a 24-hour toll-free number (1192) for Kenyans struggling to quit smoking shisha.
While offering help to those struggling with addiction, Nacada acknowledged that it may be hard for users of the drug to quit.
“If you’ve decided to quit smoking shisha, then you’ve made a great decision for your health. It may be hard at times, but there is help available to you,” Nacada wrote on X.
Research shows that it can be challenging to stop smoking shisha since many smokers, especially regular users, experience urges to smoke and other withdrawal symptoms after stopping for a while.
Individuals who develop an addiction could smoke by themselves more frequently.
The use of shisha has been found to have massive effects on the long-term health of individuals including; pulmonary diseases such as chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and gastric cancer.
Shisha smokers may find it simpler to quit with the assistance of a therapy program designed to help people stop smoking.
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