Nigeria’s anti-drug agency, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, has asserted that no fewer than 29.4 million Nigerians mostly aged between 15 and 64 years are found of abusing psychoactive substances and other dangerous drugs.
This was made known by Mrs. Florence Ezeonye who is the Anambra State Commandant of the NDLEA, at an event in Awka to commemorate the United Nations International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking this year.
While stating that one in every four drug users are women, she offered a bleak picture of the situation.
She said: ‘The truth on the ground indicates that our society needs to do more in the area of creating awareness of the damaging effects of drug abuse on human health.
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‘The drug use and health survey of 2018 captured that 14.4% of the country’s drug use prevalence is almost three times the global average of 5.6%. What is more disturbing is that the drug abuse cuts across all ages, gender, socioeconomic status and regions.
‘From the survey, 14.3 million Nigerians aged 15-64 years use psychoactive substances such as alcohol, caffeine, nicotine and heroine, while 10.6 million abuse cannabis. Also, 4.6million others abuse pharmaceutical opioids such as codeine, tramadol, methamphetamine, and morphine, among others.
‘It is worrisome to know that drug use was common among those aged 25-39years, the age of initiation for heroin was 22 years, while the age of cannabis sativa was 19 years.
‘Notably these age groups comprise young people who are either in secondary or tertiary institutions or are on the cusp of graduation.
‘To simplify the report of the survey, young people are overwhelmingly the majority of drug abusers in Nigeria’.
She traced the problem to harsh conditions which had driven many into different vices leading to humanitarian and health crises.