Substance use disorder · 90-day residential
Drug Rehab in Kenya — Treatment Matched to the Substance and the Person
- Free initial consultation. Confidential. No obligation.
Substances we treat
Cannabis
Cannabis withdrawal is rarely medically dangerous, but the psychological dependence — and the link with anxiety, low motivation, and underlying mood conditions — is often underestimated. Daily heavy users frequently report sleep disruption, irritability, and intense cravings for two to three weeks.
Detox: Non-medical, supportive
Focus: Underlying mood / motivation
Heroin & other opioids
Opioid withdrawal is brutally uncomfortable but rarely fatal on its own. The greater medical risk arrives after detox: tolerance drops fast, and a relapse at a previous dose can be lethal. Aftercare planning for opioid clients is correspondingly strict.
Detox: Medically supervised, symptom-managed
Focus: Post-detox overdose prevention
Cocaine & stimulants
Stimulant withdrawal is psychological more than physical: a deep, flat exhaustion followed by anhedonia, low mood, and powerful cravings triggered by people, places, and situations. Cardiac and psychiatric assessment matters here — stimulants often expose underlying conditions.
Detox: Non-medical, monitored
Focus: Cardiac/psychiatric workup, trigger work
Prescription medication
Long-term benzodiazepine use is the highest-risk detox we encounter — abrupt discontinuation can cause seizures. Detox is always slow, supervised, and stepped. Many clients arrived at dependence by following a doctor’s prescription; the work is not about blame.
Detox: Slow, medically supervised taper
Focus: Original pain or anxiety condition
Methamphetamine
Methamphetamine cases require careful psychiatric assessment — prolonged heavy use can produce stimulant-induced psychosis that takes weeks to clear. Detox is non-medical, but the early-phase psychiatric monitoring is the most intensive of any substance we treat.
Detox: Non-medical, close psychiatric monitoring
Focus: Psychiatric stabilisation, trauma
Substance not listed?
The list above covers the substances we see most often. If what you’re dealing with isn’t here — synthetic cannabinoids, kratom, nitrous oxide, ketamine, polysubstance use — call us. We will either treat it or refer you to a centre that does.
How detox differs by substance
The riskiest detox is not the one you'd expect
Heroin withdrawal feels worse than it is medically. Benzodiazepine and alcohol withdrawal can feel manageable, then turn into a seizure. Stopping safely is not the same as stopping comfortably — and stopping at home without an assessment can underestimate the risk.
| Substance | Onset | Medical Risk | What Clinical Focus Looks Like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cannabis Daily heavy use | 24–72 hours | Low | Sleep support, mood regulation, underlying anxiety or depression |
| Heroin & opioids | 8–24 hours | Low during, high after | Symptom relief, post-detox overdose education, strict aftercare |
| Cocaine & stimulants | Hours | Low–moderate | Cardiac/psychiatric review, sleep, anhedonia management |
| Benzodiazepines | 1–4 days | High — seizure risk | Slow stepped taper, never abrupt; treat original anxiety condition |
| Methamphetamine | 24 hours | Low medically, high psychiatric | Psychiatric assessment, monitoring for stimulant psychosis, sleep |
The 90 days, tailored for drug recovery
Detox & assessment
Substance-specific detox protocol, full psychiatric and medical assessment, nutritional support, baseline lab tests, and the first one-on-one counselling. Where indicated, medication is started for an underlying condition.
What's underneath
Individual therapy and trauma-focused work in earnest. Most drug clients are surprised by what surfaces here — the drug was usually doing a job (numbing, escaping, regulating), and the work is to find another way to do that job.
Group, peers, family
Group therapy, NA/AA meetings, the Journey to Freedom programme, and structured family work. Peer connection at this phase is one of the strongest predictors of post-discharge stability.
Relapse-prevention plan
Trigger identification, a written relapse-prevention plan, opioid-overdose education for relevant clients, and a structured aftercare schedule with the family looped in.
What's distinct about how we treat drugs
The drug was doing a job
For almost every client we see, the substance was solving a problem before it became one — numbing trauma, taming social anxiety, lifting depression, getting through grief. Stopping the drug without finding another way to handle the underlying job is the most common reason people relapse.
This is why the therapy work matters as much as the detox, and why 90 days is the minimum — the work of finding new strategies takes time to embed.
The relapse risk profile is substance-specific
For opioids, a relapse at a previous dose can kill — tolerance drops in days, the brain doesn’t know that. For stimulants, the danger is the slow drift back via familiar places, people, and emotional states. Aftercare plans reflect this.
Clients with opioid histories leave with explicit overdose education, naloxone awareness, and stricter contact protocols during the first 90 days post-discharge.
For families
If you're the one piecing it together
You don’t need to know the substance, the supplier, or the timeline before you call. Our first conversation is free, takes about twenty minutes, and is not a sales pitch. If Primrose isn’t the right fit, we’ll tell you and point you somewhere that is.
Sleep and waking hours have shifted
Daytime exhaustion, late nights, weekend disappearance, or the opposite — wired alertness at unusual hours. The sleep pattern is one of the earliest reliable signals.
Money is moving in patterns you don't understand
Repeated small requests, missing cash, items disappearing, or an explanation for spending that never quite holds together.
The social circle has changed
Long-standing friends quietly fall away, replaced by new people the family hasn't met. Conversations about the new circle are deflected.
Locked drawers, locked phones, kept-apart spaces
A new and absolute privacy around belongings, devices, and rooms. Reasonable in isolation; significant when it appears alongside the other signs.
Mood swings that don't track with anything obvious
Highs and lows that no longer correlate with what's actually happening — work, family, sleep. The pattern itself becomes the signal.
When drugs are part of a larger picture
Alcohol addiction
Frequently combined with drug use — and where it is, the medical detox protocol changes. Alcohol withdrawal carries its own seizure risk that has to be managed first.
Dual diagnosis
Where substance use sits alongside a diagnosed psychiatric condition — depression, bipolar, PTSD. Treating one without the other tends to fail.
Family programme
Structured therapy for partners, parents, and adult children — built into the 90 days, not added at discharge. Essential where the substance use has been hidden for years.
Common questions about drug treatment
Do you treat polysubstance use?
Yes — and in practice this is what we see most often. Almost no one is using only one substance by the time they reach residential treatment. The clinical assessment in Phase 1 maps the full picture; the detox protocol is built to address whichever substance carries the highest medical risk first (commonly alcohol or benzodiazepines), with the others sequenced in.
Will my loved one need medication?
It depends on the substance and on what’s going on underneath. During detox, medication is used where clinically indicated — to manage opioid withdrawal symptoms, to taper benzodiazepines safely, or to stabilise an underlying psychiatric condition. After detox, medication is used only where it’s specifically helpful. Our consulting psychiatrist makes the call, not a protocol.
What if they refuse to come?
Very few people enter rehab feeling ready. Most arrive ambivalent, defensive, or angry — and leave 90 days later grateful that someone made the call. Involuntary rehabilitation is lawful in Kenya and is the path many of our families have taken. Call us — we’ll help you think through the right approach for your situation.
What about prescription dependence that started with a doctor?
This is more common than most people realise — especially with benzodiazepines, opioid painkillers, and sleep medication. The dependence is real even when the path to it was a prescription, and the work to come off safely is the same. We don’t treat this as a different kind of addiction or with a different attitude; the original condition (pain, anxiety, insomnia) is addressed alongside the dependence.
Is there a risk of overdose after treatment?
For opioid clients specifically, yes — and we take it seriously. Tolerance falls quickly during the 90 days, so a relapse at a previous dose can be fatal. Clients with opioid histories leave with explicit overdose education, family naloxone awareness where relevant, and a stricter contact and check-in schedule during the early post-discharge period.
If drugs have stopped being a thing the person can put down on their own
Call us. The first conversation is free, takes about twenty minutes, and is not a sales pitch. If Primrose isn’t the right fit, we’ll say so and point you somewhere that is.
Available 24/7. Confidential.