Time To End Drug Abuse

A couple of days ago, precisely on June 26, the world marked the 2019 International Day Against Drug Abuse and illicit Drug trafficking. It is a day set aside by the United Nations to arouse global consciousness on the dangers of drug abuse and the urgent need to check the phenomenon.
The United Nations had on December 7, 1987, through Resolution 42/112, set aside June 26 every year as the World Drug Day. This year’s theme – “Health for Justice, Justice for Health” – underlines the importance of a holistic approach involving health, human rights, criminal justice and social service institutions.
No doubt, the world’s drug problem is one of the most challenging issues nations the world over face. It has wide-ranging impacts on the health and well-being of individuals, families and communities, as well as on the security and sustainable development of nations.
Commemorating the Day in Nigeria, the Benue State Commander of the NDLEA, Florrence Ezeonye disclosed that over 14.3 million Nigerians between the ages of 15 and 64 use hard drugs.
According to her, recent reports of the National Survey on Drug use, conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, in collaboration with the Centre for Research and Information on Substance Abuse, CRISA, sponsored by the United Nations Office on Drugs Control, UNODC, and the European Union, EU, confirmed that Nigeria has about 14.3 million hard drugs users aged between 15 and 64.
Ezeonye, who tied the increasing crime rate to the level of illicit drug abuse in the society, said the survey further revealed that 10.6million Nigerians abuse opioids, while 2.4 million youths and adults abuse codeine-based syrup with 92,000 more using cocaine.
She decried what she described as a disturbing trend where communities protect drug dealers and join hands to attack officers and men of the agency on legitimate duty, warning that the trend must stop to check unwarranted loss of lives.
Beyond NDLEA’s self-adulation over drug abuse handling, this year’s celebration of the World Drug Day has indeed re-opened issues that should bother every forward-looking society that is committed to containing the menace of mental health and criminality.
It is more so because issues of the prevalence of banned and illicit drugs, the use of non-prescribed drugs and self-medication have become rather endemic in our society. Sadly, those who deal on the substances have targeted the Youth.
Notwithstanding the vigorous efforts of the NDLEA and the National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) in the war against drug abuse and illicit drug trafficking, the failure of many Nigerians to join in the campaign has become worrisome as it is a major problem.
Even more worrisome is the proliferation of fake and counterfeit drugs which has been given impetus by the failure of people to confirm or use only confirmed drugs.
It is against this backdrop that The Tide urges strict vigilance on the part of government and the general public as a good number of persons have died and more are still dying of abuse of drugs. But even worse is the use of psychotropic drugs that easily embolden youths to engage in criminality.
Perhaps, another area to worry about is the resort to herbal treatments because of the perception that the orthodox drugs are either fake or ineffective. This is why we expect that the health enlightenment campaign against unwholesome drugs would be sustained even at the rural areas.
It is only when these measures are taken into account and addressed that the World Drug Day would have made any meaning. Even so, this is a phenomenon that challenges the world as a whole. It is a problem that parents and institutions that deal with young persons must decide to address head on.
Perhaps, we should also note that government may need to do more in the control of un-wholesome drugs. It is clear that the drugs available are the ones people always patronise, hence if efforts will be made to ensure that authentic drugs become widely available and affordable, no one will go for the fake.