The Kwara State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has bemoaned the acts of coaches to administer drugs to their athletes to improve their performances.
The state commander, Mohammed Bashir Ibrahim, disclosed this when the state chapter of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Ilọrin.
SWAN is seeking collaboration in capacity building in the area of drugs and sports to further enhance their reportorial skills.
Speaking during the event, Ibrahim said youths now glamorise illicit drug use and promised to make the agency more visible in sports events as a way of drug trafficking control.
He said the decision is borne out of recent challenges faced in policing drug traffickers in Kwara State.
According to him, “Youths are especially vulnerable to drug abuse because they tend to glamorise drug use.
“Matters are not helped when adults, handlers of athletes tend to sell them the drugs.
“We recently secured the conviction of a coach who was selling drugs to young athletes in his care,” he said.
He said the use and supply of synthetic cannabis is now prevalent among drug abusers adding that more women are involved in the supply chain of the banned substances.
Speaking on behalf of journalists, the chairman of SWAN, Ayodeji Ismail, said that sports writers are very much aware of the dangers drug abuse poses to sports and youth development.
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