{"id":3706,"date":"2025-07-14T12:57:47","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T12:57:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/?p=3706"},"modified":"2025-07-14T12:57:47","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T12:57:47","slug":"nacada-proposes-raising-legal-drinking-age-to-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/2025\/07\/14\/nacada-proposes-raising-legal-drinking-age-to-21\/","title":{"rendered":"NACADA Proposes Raising Legal Drinking Age to 21"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"236\" data-end=\"560\"><em><strong>By: Amos Mutheru<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"236\" data-end=\"560\">The National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) has announced a bold proposal to raise Kenya\u2019s legal drinking age from 18 to 21 years.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"236\" data-end=\"560\">The move is part of the newly approved 2025 National Policy on Alcohol, Drugs, and Substance Abuse, which was endorsed by the Cabinet on June 24.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"562\" data-end=\"712\">Speaking during a press briefing, NACADA officials expressed concern over rising alcohol use among young people, particularly those aged <strong data-start=\"699\" data-end=\"711\">18 to 24<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<blockquote data-start=\"714\" data-end=\"947\">\n<p data-start=\"716\" data-end=\"947\">\u201cApproximately 13 percent of Kenyans aged 15\u201365 consume alcohol, with the highest usage recorded among 18\u201324-year-olds,\u201d the agency stated.<br data-start=\"855\" data-end=\"858\" \/>\u201cRaising the legal drinking age is one of the strategies to curb this dangerous trend.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p data-start=\"949\" data-end=\"1070\">Dr. Anthony Omerikwa, NACADA\u2019s Chief Executive Officer, also raised alarms over unregulated online access to alcohol.<\/p>\n<blockquote data-start=\"1072\" data-end=\"1229\">\n<p data-start=\"1074\" data-end=\"1229\">\u201cThe online space has become a loophole. Teenagers are ordering alcohol from their phones and having it delivered to their homes. This must stop,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p data-start=\"1074\" data-end=\"1229\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sp-ao.shortpixel.ai\/client\/to_webp,q_glossy,ret_img,w_704,h_375\/https:\/\/kenyanwallstreet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/image-11-704x375.png\" alt=\"Beer drinking age\" \/><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1231\" data-end=\"1409\">As part of the new policy, online sales, including via mobile apps and vending machines, will be banned. Home delivery of alcoholic beverages will also be prohibited.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1411\" data-end=\"1477\">The policy further introduces strict marketing restrictions where celebrity endorsements will no longer be allowed in alcohol advertisements.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1411\" data-end=\"1477\">In addition, they also argue that promotions will be banned during children\u2019s TV programming, school events, and on national holidays.<\/p>\n<blockquote data-start=\"1674\" data-end=\"1801\">\n<p data-start=\"1676\" data-end=\"1801\">\u201cCelebrity endorsements have a big influence on young people. We are removing that pressure and glamorisation,\u201d NACADA added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p data-start=\"1803\" data-end=\"1954\">A zoning regulation will also come into effect, prohibiting alcohol outlets within 300 metres of schools, places of worship, and residential areas.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1956\" data-end=\"2016\">NACADA emphasized that this is not merely a policy on paper.<\/p>\n<blockquote data-start=\"2018\" data-end=\"2122\">\n<p data-start=\"2020\" data-end=\"2122\">\u201cWe are losing too many young people. These reforms are necessary to save lives,\u201d the agency declared.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By: Amos Mutheru The National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) has announced a bold proposal&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[131],"class_list":["post-3706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trends","tag-nacada-proposes-raising-legal-drinking-age-to-21"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3706"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3712,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3706\/revisions\/3712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsroomhub.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}