The National Authority for the Campaign Against Drug Abuse (Nacada) has raised a red flag over the increasing number of people consuming cocaine in Mombasa County.

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The agency said on Wednesday that the most affected age group is people between the ages of 15 and 24 signaling a possibility of a drop in education standards in the county.

Nacada said over 70,000 people presently consume cocaine in Mombasa county adding that unless efforts are invested in education youth the negative effects of the drug, the number may even double.

The county's Nacada chief George Karisa says the biggest contributor to the problem is rampant unemployment especially among youth.

"The biggest impediment to the fight against drug use is unemployment and peer pressure," he said adding that majority of those in the business are youth who have completed school and have no jobs.

Five days ago, the agency also reveled that close to 500,000 Mombasa residents consume the high addictive heroin.

Mombasa, because of to its strategic location along the Indian Ocean is a key transit zone for hard drugs including heroin and cocaine. This has provided an environment for youth to abuse the substances that have huge health effects on user.