is your child taking this drug?
Friday, 10th October, 2008
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The contents of a sachet of kuber
By Lydia Namubiru
AN intoxicating drug is being openly sold in Ugandan shops and supermarkets.
The drug, sold under the brand name Kuber, is disguised as a mouth freshener
and packed in sachets similar to tea leaves pouches.
The nicotine-rich stimulant is widely consumed by secondary school students and
taxi drivers, especially in Kampala.
“By law it is considered a social drug like cigarettes but we know it is quite
addictive,” says Dr. David Basangwa of Butabika Psychiatric Hospital. Users say
it is stronger than marijuana.
“I can confirm that kuber is mostly sold in Indian shops and that people say
they go into a trance when they use it,” says Asan Kasingye, the Police
Commissioner for Community Affairs.
Saturday Vision found that it is sold in supermarkets and grocery shops run by
both Ugandans and Indians. The Ugandan shopkeepers seem unaware of what the
product is and even put it on display. In contrast, Indians sell the product
clandestinely and in some cases take away the receipt.
Full story
Kuber, a
new drug on
the market
A highly addictive, intoxicating drug is being openly sold in Ugandan shops and
supermarkets.
The drug, sold under the brand name ‘Kuber’, is disguised as a mouth freshener
and packed in sachets similar to tea leaves pouches. The nicotine-rich
stimulant is being widely consumed by secondary school students and taxi
drivers to get high.
“If you put it into hot water and take it like tea, you get very drunk,” a
16-year-old studentcurrently admitted to Butabika Hospital for abusing drugs
including kuber, reveals.
Kikonyogo Kivumbi, a teacher in Nansana, recently wrote to the New Vision
letter section saying: “I have seen many children chew kuber. Children get
extremely high on this drug but are undetected by teachers because it has no
smell.”
Dr. David Basangwa, a psychiatrist at Butabika, says he has treated patients
who got mental illnesses after taking kuber. “By law, it is considered a social
drug like cigarettes but we know that it is quite addictive.”
The Police is investigating the product. “We have received numerous complaints
from people that kuber is of a psychotic nature and we have bought samples to
take to the Government chemist,” says Asan Kasingye, the police commissioner
for community affairs. “It is mostly sold in Indian shops and people say they
go into a trance when they use it.”
Kasingye promises that the public will be warned if Kuber is found to contain
any illegal substance or drug. “However, even if it contains only tobacco, we
shall still investigate whether or not it gets the right customs clearance as
other tobacco products.”
Officials at the National Drug Authority described kuber as a central nervous
system (CNS) stimulant.
CNS stimulants are drugs that increase behavioural activity, thought processes
and alertness or elevate the mood of an individual.Examples are amphetamine,
caffeine, nicotine and cocaine.
Since it is imported as a mouth freshener, kuber goes into the market without
the approval of NDA.
Florence Nakacwa, a drugs assessment officer, criticised the manufacturers for
making such a product without labelling the sachets to show the ingredients.
“This means that it does not even meet our basic labelling requirements. How do
such products come into the country?”
She added that even if the product contains only tobacco, it would be
misleading to market it as a mouth freshener.
Kuber, the finely ground tobacco, is often chewed with khat (mairungi) leaves,
sucked at alone or taken with hot water like a beverage.
America’s National Cancer Institute classifies it as a brand of smokeless
tobacco.
According to the institute, smokeless tobacco contains 28 cancer causing agents
and its users take in three to four times more nicotine (the addictive
substance in tobacco) than cigarette smokers, making it that many times more
addictive.
Basangwa cautions that kuber is a cause for concern because of the mental
health issues associated with it. “It impairs memory and causes depression,” he
says, adding, “even mere addiction to it is a mental problem.” He says unlike
harder drugs like cocaine, kuber may not cause drastic mental disorder, but
warns that if used for a long period it may narrow the blood vessels to the
brain which results into overt mental illness.
The Police is also investigating another product that is believed to be
psychotic but is sold as drinking water. Sources, however, refused to reveal
the brand name of the product, saying investigations have just began.
More under SPECIAL REPORT
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