As the world marks Drug
Free Day
By Obinna Azuaru
Friday, June 25, 2004
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| •Bello Lafiaji |
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"…we need to ensure that we are on top of the
drug trafficking issue. There should be no let-up or let-off
on measure and means to combat drug trafficking and drug abuse
in Nigeria. We must deploy similar sustained and collaborative
efforts… to successfully fight the menace of fraudsters
and money launderers in Nigeria and Africa" – Chief
Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR, President, Federal Republic of Nigeria.
In his inaugural speech at the Lincoln Memorial Mall in Washington
D.C. on Monday, January 20, 1997 entitled ‘We Will Redeem
the Promise of America in the 21st Century’, former
US President Bill Clinton said among others: "Our streets
will echo again with the laughter of our children, because
no one will try to shoot them or sell them drugs anymore."
The United Nations has set aside the 26th June of every year
as the United Nations International Day Against Drug Abuse
and Illicit Trafficking. It is a day all nations are expected
to re-affirm faith and re-inaugurate the crusade against the
scourge that has continued to bedevil mankind.
The United Nations since the Single Convention of 1988 against
illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances
chooses a theme as focus and area of concentration each year.
Last year, the theme was "Let’s Talk About Drugs."
In 2002, it was "Substance Abuse and HIV/AIDS."
Year 2001 was "Sports Against Drug Abuse." In the
year 2000, it was "Avoiding Denial and Facing Reality,"
in 1999, it was "Music Against Drug Abuse" while
1997 had "Mobilising Communities Against Drug Abuse"
as theme.
This year’s theme is "Treatment Works." The
choice of this theme by the United Nations may have come from
the pertinence of lending credence to the secondary level
of drug abuse prevention strategy.
Treatment is a planned and sustained means of assisting drug
dependent persons either in the hospital or outside hospital
setting with the aim of making the patient return to his or
her normal state of well being.
Steps involved in treatment include history taking, problem
identification, drug abuse, frequency and period of drug usage,
record of previous treatment, duration of treatment, referral
system and goal identification.
The crux here is that treatment is efficacious in so far as
the drug dependent person is guided well in religiously following
the tenets and cardinals of the confines of treatment juxtaposed
with follow-up, counselling, thorough rehabilitation and social
reintegration -–Treatment Works! The various acknowledged
substances of abuse are legion even as they are manifest vis-à-vis,
alcohol, tobacco, cannabis species, amphetamines, tranquilizers
and sedatives, stimulants, inhalants, anabolic steroids, heroin,
LSD and cocaine. It becomes very imperative to note that one
very peculiar feature is that all the substances of abuse
as enumerated have both physical, psychological and social
effects which sometimes more often than not lead to death
or permanent disability.
A number of reasons are adduced for the use of psychoactive
drugs by youths. These include among others, parental drug
sub-culture, peer group influence, availability of psycho-active
drugs, the need to facilitate studies and excel in academics,
curiosity and experimentation, emotional and psycho-social
stresses such as anxiety, frustration, insomnia and economic
depression, get-rich-quick syndrome and the influence of advertisement.
Drug abuse and trafficking have created a bad image for this
country abroad, leads our youths into various immoral behaviours
like sex abuse, rape, stealing, abortion, armed robbery, prostitution,
gangsterism, truancy, cultism, arson, accidents (industrial
and vehicular), and is the root cause of broken homes destitution,
some cases of HIV/AIDS, mental illnesses and the awesome depreciation
in economic and human resources.
It is an indisputable fact, going by the postulations of pundits,
that crime and drug abuse cannot easily be divorced from each
other, because it is upheld that 90 per cent of crimes committed,
are perpetrated under the intoxication of one substance of
abuse or the other.
The fight against drug abuse must be total and all hands must
be on deck. An all-embracing campaign must be carried out
in the nooks and crannies of the nation, enlightening our
young ones on the dangers inherent in drug abuse and for us
to succeed in this campaign, we must develop a culture and
attitude against misuse of drugs. As it is always said, prevention
is better and cheaper than cure, we must, therefore, carry
this campaign with vigour to the grassroots.
The involvement of appropriate research groups and centres
in drug data collection exercise nationwide should be encouraged,
the need for all the tiers of government to employ and train
Guidance Counsellors for schools should be seen as sacrosanct.
Similarly, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency should
be given the ultimate energy it requires to function well
from the three arms of government. The effort of mass media
and the non-governmental organizations in creating awareness
should be accorded more support by stakeholders. The drug
abuse prevention strategy should be seen as a collective responsibility
of parents, guardians, teachers and government.
Government should never relent in creating the enabling environment
that will promote small and medium scale enterprises, fosters
synergy, enhances capacity building and utilization and encourages
the growth of employment opportunities among the youths who
are the most vulnerable to this malaise.
Lastly, until the philosophy which holds the rich superior
and the poor inferior is permanently discredited, the dream
of a lasting drug and financial crime-free world would remain
but a fleeting illusion to be pursued but never attained.
One is, however, happy that the rest of the world is recognising
Nigeria’s role in the global war against narcotics,
hence the recent election of NDLEA chairman, Alhaji Bello
Lafiaji as the first black president of the European Working
Group of the International Drug Enforcement Conference.
Happy World Drug Free Day.
•Obinna Azuaru is of the NDLEA
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