Government and all stakeholders have been charged to take urgent action to protect people’s lives by minimising conflicts, strengthening drug abuse prevention and treatment as well as tackling illicit drug supply.
This was said by the Founder, Global Initiative on Substance Abuse (GISA) and National President, International Society of Substance Use Professionals (ISSUP), Nigerian Chapter, Dr. Martins Agwogie while presenting a paper titled: ‘Addressing Drug Challenges in Health & Humanitarian Crises: Settings in Need of Care for a Comprehensive Drug Use Prevention in Nigeria.’
This was in commemoration of this year’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking and held at State House Conference Centre, Abuja, recently.
According to Agwogie, humanitarian crises situations destabilize communities, families, and relationships between parents and child threatening the future of the entire Society and exposing younger ones to substance use and abuse.
“When people who are under stressful conditions gain access to drugs, they use them to minimise stress or mental conditions or cope with life challenges. Hence the need to protect the rights to health for the most vulnerable population especially children and youths,” said Agwogie.
Reports from the National Drug Survey in Nigeria shows that over 14.3 million adults aged 15 – 64 years are exposed to drug/ substance use and abuse.
“Nigeria is one of the countries with the highest number of people who abuse tramadol and cough syrup containing codeine and dextromethorphan. Thus, it is obvious that Nigeria is in a crisis of substance and abuse. More worrisome is the prevalence of drug use in Africa including Nigeria by 2030 (approximately 20 million persons in Nigeria is projected according to UNODC 2021),” said Agwogie.
With the prevailing crises of abuse in Nigeria, Agwogie lamented that some settings such as family, peace and security, education, economy, mental health among others are the most affected and need urgent care of policy interventions.
Other recommendations include: Strengthening awareness and commitment related to the risk is substance use among victims of humanitarian crises and the burden of Substance Use Disorders (SUD) treatment interventions among communities, practitioners and policymakers; strengthening the broad framework of responses including laws, institutions capacity and awareness towards a more impactful intervention, among others.