Parents, government and the society at large have a collective responsibility to keep the estimated 151million young people in Nigeria away from the use of hard drugs and psychotropic substances to guarantee a better future for the country and preservation of mankind.
The chairman and chief executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Brig-Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa, (rtd) who disclosed this on Thursday in Lagos also said it would be ‘’complete madness” acceding to recent clamour by some politicians and institutions to liberalise the cultivation of cannabis for economic gains, adding that eligible young voters despite their numerical strength, may not put same to electoral advantage and make the expected impact on the outcome of the 2023 general election on account of drug abuse.
He further revealed the arrest of 19, 341 offenders by the agency in the past 22 months, “with 3, 111 convicted in court and as many as 3,500 cases pending. Over 50% are young people, still under the age of 40. All of these – treatment and the criminal justice system, namely criminal investigation, prosecution and incarceration, cost the government huge money”.
According to him, facts from year-long research conducted by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC and published in the annual World Drug Report indicated that there are young people vaping, inhaling cannabis-infused shisha and experimenting with synthetic cannabis and other potent variants such as Loud and Colorado, even as findings from the National Drug Use survey released in 2018 indicated that Nigeria is the world’s leading abuser of the psychoactive plant, cannabis.
He expressed concern that “10.6 million of our compatriots, mostly youths are abusing marijuana and other cannabis derivatives, noting that some of them started using the substance between ages 13 and 17, with the largest pool of users in their early 30s”.
The NDLEA, he added, discovered that aside from smoking, youths also use marijuana for cookies and brownies and also infuse it in drinks while other dangerous substances, frequently abused by young people in the country include crystal methamphetamine, known locally as Mkpuru Mmri, and pharmaceutical opioids, mostly tramadol and codeine, which are used to produce dangerous mixtures, like skuchies, that they drink at parties.
“Knowing that young people abuse drugs is alarming, but knowing the kind of consequences such action will bring on them and the country, will leave us all in a perpetual state of anxiety”, he noted.
On the implication of drug abuse, he noted that the economic cost of drug abuse by youths is not easily calculable in the country “for want of comprehensive and organised statistics”, adding, however, that the economic cost of the menace in Nigeria would be “grossly underestimated, no matter the figure we arrive at”.
But he said that Nigeria can take a cue from America which has better statistics. For instance, he stated, that in “ 2007, the economic cost of drug abuse in the United States was estimated at $193 billion. Out of this, lost productivity accounted for $120 billion; while healthcare gulped $11 billion –for drug treatment and drug‐related medical consequences and the sum of $61 billion was spent on criminal justice, primarily for criminal investigation, prosecution and incarceration, and victim costs”.
According to him, illicit drugs are banned in Nigeria and other countries for many reasons the biggest of which is that they constitute health dangers while abuse of drugs leads to dependency “which in the long run leads to the deterioration of users’ health. Drugs such as cocaine, heroin and crystal methamphetamine, aside from directly affecting the health of users, also place them at risk of other deadly diseases such as HIV and hepatitis because of the associated risky habit of injecting with needles. More importantly, the abuse of psychoactive drugs has been attributed to the rise in mental health problems across the world”.
Specifically, citing cannabis as an example, the NDLEA boss, quoting statistics by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC World Drug Reports 2021 and 2022, noted that “more young people are using drugs compared with previous generations,” while “the proportion of people with psychiatric disorders and suicides associated with regular cannabis use has increased, together with the number of hospitalizations. Some 40 per cent of countries reported cannabis as the drug related to the greatest number of drug use disorders.”
Methamphetamine addiction he pointed out has chronic health implications including causing rapid deterioration of health while meth addiction is one of the most difficult to treat.
“With a lot of youths abusing these drugs, society has on its hand a ticking time bomb that could blow up to become a public health catastrophe a few years down the line. That is a burden that African countries, including Nigeria, should avoid”, he stated.
Disclosing that drug abuse leads to derailment of education, high cost of crime prevention and loss of productivity, he said relevant statistics revealed that drug users are more likely to have the highest record of absenteeism from work, and have difficulty holding down a job, with some of them reportedly working for three or more employers in a given year and more likely to report missing two or more workdays in a month due to illness or injury, stating that overall, their productivity is curtailed which eventually affects national output or Gross Domestic Product, GDP”.
He said though it is globally recognised that one of Africa’s comparative advantages is its huge youth population, Nigeria, for instance, has no “less than 151 million young people, accounting for 70% of our estimated 217 million population” even though most of us don’t know what that means. “Youth means creativity, strength, resourcefulness and productivity. But how do we rake in these benefits when a significant number of this population is involved in the abuse of illicit substances? The truth is instead of a boon they could become a burden because of abuse of illicit substances”.
Insisting that the society is also partly to blame for the rise in drug abuse among youths, he maintained that there is no gainsaying that the incident of more youths abusing cannabis for an example, is aided by society sending wrong messages to young people.
“Today, you have all sorts of pro-cannabis groups, movements and activists all over the place. They make it seem as if smoking cannabis is innocuous and not dangerous to health, and, therefore, should be an inalienable right of the smoker. Even some politicians and institutions, focused on the economic gains of the cultivation of cannabis, are ready to liberalize the commercialization of the plant.
“All of these send mixed messages to young people. Already, the damage is done because research shows that: “The perceptions of cannabis harm have decreased in areas where the drug has been legalized” while in some parts of the world, “cannabis products have almost quadrupled in potency, and yet the percentage of adolescents who perceive cannabis as harmful has dropped by as much as 40 per cent, despite the evidence linking regular use to health problems, particularly in young people, and despite the correlation between potency and harm”, he said.
On the consequences for the next year’s general election, Marwa noted that abuse of hard drugs and violence go hand in hand.
“We can recall the social upheaval caused in Southeast states in the last quarter of 2021 when there was an outbreak of abuse of methamphetamine. That episode gave us a foresight of the kind of instability that could result from abuse of illicit drugs by young people. With so many idle hands around, some of whom are hooked on drugs, the election will be a testy period.
“But, let me assure you that the security agencies are aware of this and are working to forestall it. With such a huge youth population, you can begin to think that the election in the country will be won by a “youth referendum,” but with so many youths involved in drug abuse, they can hardly make the kind of strong impact that people envisage; just as they cannot hold down a job, they also cannot exhibit prudent electoral choices or execute the civic duty of voting. What you end up having is the phenomenon of self-disenfranchisement among young people because those who are into drug abuse will readily make themselves available as tools for irrational activities such as electoral thuggery and violence”.
Maintaining that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is giving NDLEA unflinching support, he said the agency in turn has been working on several measures which are largely youth-focused as well. “We remain guided by global best practices. As recommended by the UNODC in the World Drug Report 2022: “Whole-of-society approaches are needed to ensure that people, young people most of all, have the information and develop the resilience to make good choices.”
Part of the recommendations, he explained, include the development of “national drug prevention systems that reach children as early as possible in their development and focus on building resilience; reaching out to and involving adolescents, disseminating prevention messages on social media and other online platforms; promoting prevention and treatment options for young people who use drugs and young people with drug use disorders”
According to him, it is line with this recommendations that the NDLEA has initiated some measures which include the War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) campaign, a grassroots-oriented advocacy which “we are using to diffuse anti-drug sentiment across the various strata of our society; NDLEA Twitter Space where drug issues are discussed by experts from within the country and around the world to an audience of young people and a 24/7 Drug Abuse call centre with a toll-free helpline: 0800 1020 3040 which allows drug users, their families and employers to seek treatment without compromising their identities or safety as well as open-door treatment at 26 NDLEA treatment facilities across the country”
Speaking earlier at a debrief workshop on Controlled Delivery Exercise of Drug Trafficking for Law Enforcement in Nigeria and Cote De’voire organized by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC and ECOWAS Commission, Gen. Marwa noted that the capacity building training has further increased efficiency in tackling the scourge of drug trafficking, which in recent years has become one of the most devastating threats to the human race.
“Today’s workshop has helped to put us all on the same page about the intricacies of this methodology, which requires greater cooperation of relevant law enforcement agencies at the national and international levels. More than other techniques, controlled delivery sharpens our awareness as to why law enforcement agencies should not work in silos and why bilateral and multilateral agreements, good and regular contact and exchange of information between anti-drug enforcement organisations are important,” he noted.
He commended the European Union, UNODC and ECOWAS Commission for supporting the training workshop.
Welcoming the guests to the occasion, the Realnews publisher, Maureen Chigbo, commended Gen. Marwa for honouring the invitation despite his tight schedule, adding that this shows him as a man of honour and integrity.
She explained that the anniversary lecture series was “one way Realnews contributes to nation building and development by providing a forum for policy change-oriented discussions by professionals, scholars, technocrats and decision-makers on the way forward for our great nation and Africa in general”.
She said this year, Realnews zeroed in on “Drug Abuse among Youths in Africa: Implication for Nigerian Economy and 2023 Elections” because of the deep concern about the nefarious effect of drug on the youths.
“We watched viral videos of how Mkpulumiri is wrecking the lives of not just young people but old people too. We heard stories of how students indulge in anti-social behaviours and some even go to the extent of damaging school buildings to pilfer the roofs to sell to meet their drug needs”, she added.
According to her, drug abuse has been linked to incidents of violence and insecurity in the country, adding that this has prompted the suggestion that those seeking public offices should be evaluated and a public report made of all of them to ensure they are drug-free.
“All these are genuine concerns given that the World Drug Report 2021 showed that in Nigeria, with 14.4 per cent, the drug use prevalence is significantly higher than the global average”, Chigbo stated.
