NDLEA solicits support to end drug abuse, addiction

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has called for support in its fight against drug abuse and addiction among teenagers in the country.

Mrs Stella Amaechi, NDLEA representative, made the appeal at a TEEN Drug Awareness and Prevention Programme, organised for people who work with teenagers, on Monday in Lagos.

Amaechi said the aim of the training was to empower participants to be adequately equipped to identify, understand, respond and curb the rising cases of drug abuse and dependence among adolescents.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the programme was organised by Gracehill Behavioural Health Services in conjunction with NDLEA and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Amaechi said: “Without the youths, there will be no tomorrow in Nigeria.

“We are Africans and Africans are known to show love to others anywhere we find ourselves; how do we show this love, by giving advice to people when they do wrong.

“But in a situation where we cannot talk because of the fear that the society would fight against us, does not portray us as Africans. This is why it is difficult to fight drug abuse among young people.

“So we are advising that all hands must be on deck to fight this practice; do not say that it is not happening in your home, so it is none of your business.

“One day it may come back to your house directly or indirectly because you do not know what your children who are in school are doing.

“So the way Nigerians used all that they had to fight Ebola till it was eradicated from our environment, is the way I want us to fight drug abuse.

“If we apply the same energy we used to fight Ebola to fight drug abuse, it will be eliminated among youths,’’ she said.

The Proprietor of the Gracehill Place, Mrs Chigozirim Otefe-Edebo, said for youths not to go into drugs, there was need for stakeholders to know how to manage the different phases of a teenager.

Gracehill Place is a specialised Mental Health facility and addiction rehab.

According to her, drug addiction is harder to manage than actual mental illness.

“So for them not to start drugs at all, a lot of awareness needs to be created among family, parents, community, teachers and the teenagers themselves.

“So this programme was set up to create awareness and train different kinds of people who work with teenagers to know the signs on how to manage them because there are different phases in a teenagers life.

“If you don’t know how to influence a teenager, you would not understand him or her and you would not know how to help the teenager.

“You need to be able to influence the teenager stronger than maybe, an idol he is looking up to who is a bad influence.

“So these are some of the things we want to share with people, train people so that they can go out and train others and impact their own community,’’ she said.

Besides, Otefe-Edebo called for collaboration among stakeholders to eradicate the disturbing social ill.
Ms Blessing Oko, a Participant, expressed joy that she had acquired more tips on how to deal with teenagers who were drug addicts.

“When I got to know that the topic for this workshop was about adolescents and drug abuse, I developed interest because it gives me worry when I find myself among young and vibrant youths doing drugs without knowing what to do and how to help them.

“This training has equipped me immensely and I have gathered more tips on how to start a little project to help these people,’’ said Oko.

Also Mr Emmanuel Adebayo, a student of University of Ibadan, said the workshop had been helpful and impactful to his line of study.

“I am a nurse in the making and there is this part of us that do psychology and we are able to render early intervention services to cases.

“So I am here and I have been equipped with the unconventional skills that go with a positive solution in helping these people.

“In my school you find them almost everywhere, craving for drugs and you want to help them get out of it. I am happy I attended,’’ the student said.

Adebayo explained that the world had a conventional way of dealing with cases of drug abuse, saying that most times that way fails.

He condemned the idea of taking drug addicts to a correctional facility, but noted that when they come out, they bounce back to do the same thing. (NAN)