Drug war: Group partners FG to eradicate substance usage

The Nigeria Society of Substance Use Prevention and Treatment Professionals has said it will collaborate with other government agencies to eradicate the use of substance in the country.

This is as the association said the call for the legalisation of cannabis in the country was unhealthy and destructive.

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National president of the association, Dr. Marthin Agwogie, made the call on Tuesday in Abuja at the association’s 3rd Annual Conference and General Meeting with the theme, “Substance Abuse: Re-Awakening Nigerians to its Reality”.

He said that the International Society of Substance Use Professionals (ISSUP) vision towards addressing the threat of substance abuse in Nigeria is to build a united national network of substance use prevention mechanism to eradicate the scourge.

He decried the high rate of substance use in the country especially among the youths, saying Nigerians need to be mobilized against the substance use and that it was time for the country to take drastic and stricter measures against the menace.

“Nigerians must embrace the crusade to wage the war against the danger of substance abuse. The fight against drugs abuse should not be left for the government alone. We have fully mobilized the state branches and student wing of ISSUP Nigeria chapter to collaborate with National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and other stakeholders to drive this initiative at the state and community levels across higher institutions of learning.

“ISSUP is already collaborating with NDLEA, we are also working with the federal ministry of Health to address the issue of underage and harmful consumption of alcohol, similar collaboration is ongoing with other stakeholders in different areas,” Agwogie said.

Some other participants at the event urged the federal government to increase funding for drug regulating agencies to support the war against substance use and to promote research for informed policies against substance use in the country.

They also urged security agencies to be in the forefront in the fight against substance use and desist from aiding and abetting the menace, especially that it is generally believed that many of the security personnel were culpable.

A retired Commandant at the NDLEA, Muhammed Kaka Jibrin, said that substance use has gotten to frightening proportion such that some youths are even collecting grey hairs of the elderly, from barbing saloons, thereafter sniffing or smoking the grey hairs as substance.

He also called for reviews and actions on the nation’s Correctional Centres saying many of the violent and societal crimes are being masterminded by inmates, including those serving sentences.