More than 2 million Nigerians use psychoactive substances – NDLEA

According to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), there are no fewer than 2.1 million people in the South-South region who use psychoactive substances between the ages of 15 and 64.

The information was revealed in Onne on Wednesday during an event honoring the 2024 United Nations International Day Against Drug Abuse by Stella Ngwoke, the Commander of NDLEA Command in Port Harcourt Ports.

According to Ngwoke, who cited data from the 2018 National Drug Use Survey, 14.3 million people in the nation between the ages of 15 and 64 were illicit drug users.

We are discussing the usage of drugs for reasons other than medicinal. It has also been found that women make up one in four drug users.

“In Rivers, the prevalence rate is 15 per cent of the said population, which is estimated at 580,000 people,” she said.

The commander listed hemp, tramadol, morphine, and cough syrups containing codeine as the most abused substances in the South-South region.

Ngwoke said that the current realities about drug intake in the country required that governments at all levels and relevant stakeholders rise to the occasion.

She said that NDLEA had already taken proactive steps to ensure a balanced approach towards reducing the demand for the regularly abused drugs.

The NDLEA official said that part of the approach was the suppression of the supply of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances as stipulated in the National Drug Control Master Plan, 2020–2025.

The commander said that already, the agency’s interdiction effort at the ports had led to the seizure of a large shipment of drugs from India.

Ngwoke stated that in May, the agency seized no fewer than 1,750 cartons of cough syrup with codeine, weighing 26,250 kg.

“Also, in June, another seizure of 875 cartons of cough syrup with codeine, also containing 17,500 bottles and weighing 26,250 kg, was made.

“The street value of the drug in these two operations is estimated at over N4 billion,’’ she said.

Ngwoke said that, in addition to the seizure, mop-up operations were carried out around the Port Harcourt Ports corridor to dislodge drug joints.

Also speaking, the Special Guest of Honour, Mr Mohammed Babadende, expressed worries that drug abuse was ravaging the country.

He said that drug abuse had since metamorphosed into a global problem with a multifaceted challenge that touched on the lives of millions of people globally.

Babadende commended the NDLEA for working assiduously to tackle drug abuse, trafficking, and addiction in the country.

“We all know that drug availability, affordability, and accessibility are directly influenced by addiction,” he said.

Mr Bayo Adepoju, the Deputy Director, Port Operations, NAFDAC, said that although tramadol and codeine were prescription drugs, it is illegal for anyone to have them in large quantities. (NAN)