Uganda

[Page 793]Uganda is a landlocked East African nation bordered by Kenya, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Tanzania. An impoverished country, more than half of its population lives below the poverty line. In the last decade there has been a serious increase of drug trafficking through Uganda, particularly heroin trafficked from India, Thailand, and Pakistan.

Drug trafficking transpires through Uganda with almost no impediment. The drug laws are lax, few of them targeting trafficking specifically. Sentences are short, and both the Anti-Narcotics Squad and the Joint Anti-Terrorism Taskforce have established histories of corruption; in a country so poor, a drug cartel can afford plenty of bribes to go around.

Drug abuse in Uganda is a significant problem, closely linked with violent crime, especially among the young. Popular youth drugs are bhang (a marijuana preparation) and mairungi, the local name for khat, a fresh leaf that can be chewed for effects similar to amphetamines. Taking advantage of lax drug use laws, groups of teenagers in the slums of the city of Kampala smoke bhang in plain view, and these crowds have been known to become violent. Public smoking is especially common around video halls and other places where teenagers gather at night; arrests tend to lead to, at the most, a few days of inconvenience. Many teenagers move to bhang from tobacco cigarettes or alcohol, and economics drives many to give up alcohol in favor of chewing mairungi. A bundle of 50 mairungi leaves is half the price of a bottle of beer, and provides a long-lasting, stronger high. Many men—young and old—believes it strengthens their libido. The drug is also popular among professional drivers, who need to work long hours in order to collect enough fares or get their cargo where it needs to be.

There is no law in Uganda against mairungi, a plant that grows all over East Africa and is simply plucked and chewed, with no processing or chemicals needed. Attempts at outlawing it have failed, though it is expected that as usage problems grow, a bill will pass parliament that criminalizes certain mairungi-induced behaviors. The police can charge mairungi-chewers under the law against being “idle and disorderly,” but this is little more than an inconvenience, and applicable only when something happens to bring the user to police attention. This has no effect on the sale of mairungi, though mairungi vendors tend not to draw attention to themselves. As common as the drug is, there is a stigma attached to it in some circles. The drug has deleterious long-term effects: in addition to the depression and lethargy caused by withdrawal, even short-term usage [Page 794]can lead to chronic insomnia, irritability, loss of sensation (typically in the mouth and jaw), and difficulty concentrating. Recently, intravenous drugs have become more popular among young people, and drugs have been blamed for the rise in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among young people—not simply because of needle sharing but because of the established correlation between drug use and high-risk sexual behavior.

A health education class for pregnant women in Uganda. Drug use may influence human immunodeficiency virus rates.

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