Provide Standard Rehabilitation, NDLEA Urges RSG

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Rivers State Command has appealed to the Rivers State Government to assist the agency with a befitting centre for the correction and rehabilitation of drug addicts in the state.
The Principal Staff Officer, Drug Demand Reduction Unit of NDLEA, Stella Maris Awede, made this appeal during a lecture marking this year’s National Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Drug Trafficking in Port Harcourt.
Awede stated that the present NDLEA Rehabilitation Centre in Rivers State was not good enough for inmates.
Her words: “What we have is a make-shift facility, not a real rehabilitation centre. But we are managing the place to assist those abusing drugs get out of their addiction.
“We don’t have a standard rehabilitation centre, and my state commander has tried every available option to get the state government to provide a befitting centre to fast-track the process of rehabilitation and reintegration of drug addicts in the state,” Awede added.
She further stated that NDLEA would commence the prosecution of pharmaceutical shops which sell prescription drugs over the counter.
According to her, “We have done sensitization by organising seminars for drugs and medicine vendors with a view to exposing them to drugs they should not sell across the counter. Having done that, we think it is time to begin enforcement by arresting and prosecuting those who are in the habit of violating extant laws.
“We are also talking to the public. If we find any chemist or pharmacist selling ‘Cough Syrup with Nicotine,’ he or she would be arrested and prosecuted.
“We, therefore, appeal to the public to report any chemist or pharmacist found selling such drugs,” she added.
Meanwhile, the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Rivers State chapter has said that it would now apply punitive measures against pharmaceutical stores which sell prescription drugs over the counter.
The Chairman, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Rivers State Chapter, Wale Oladigbolu, said the move was part of efforts to reduce abuse of prescription drugs.
Oladigbolu said illicit intake of prescription drugs by some youth in the state was responsible for the high rate of crime in the society.
His words: “In our environment today, we have people who are doing all lots of things. They take a lot of drugs and are ready to do anything. Once you say ‘go and fight’, they are ready to do all sort of things just because the drugs have beclouded their conscience, thereby making crime rate in the society high.
“I can tell you that NDLEA in Rivers State has made tremendous efforts in making sure that there is alliance of professionals in the world solving the problem of drug abuse, even in Rivers State,” Oladigbolu added.