Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brigadier General Mohamed Buba Marwa (retd), has warned that moves by some stakeholders to push for the legalisation of cannabis will rob Nigeria of the gains so far made in the renewed war against drug abuse and trafficking in the country.
The NDLEA boss spoke in Abuja, yesterday, at a national security summit organised by the House of Representatives.
“Should we have such a law, we will soon become a nation of junkies and criminals. As such, I will like to caution that our lawmakers should not legalise cannabis because it will amount to taking a step forward and 10 steps backward. It will no doubt rob the nation of recent gains in the war against illicit drugs.
“In less than four months, we have been able to mop up over two million kilograms of illicit drugs, with over N90 billion worth of illicit substances seized. Imagine if a fraction of this had found its way into our streets. We can’t be holding a national security summit and at the same time considering legalising illicit substances,” he said.
He said the present figure of 10.6 million Nigerians abusing cannabis is frightening and enough to sound the alarm bell. He said the strong nexus between drug abuse and the security challenges across the country is incontrovertible.
“Presently, there is no bigger national issue than the issue of insecurity in Nigeria. It is one of the big challenges, if not the biggest, threatening our dear country. Insecurity is today, a full-blown malady with many manifestations such as insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, murder, robbery, reprisal killing, name it.
“Yet there has never been a government that is more committed to ending this spate of insecurity than the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari,” he said.