The Nigerian Society of Substance Use Prevention and Treatment Professionals (ISSUP, Nigeria Chapter), has called for a stronger policy on drug demand reduction, stating that the extant policies are not sufficient enough to tackle the greatly evolving trend of drug demand.
The National President of the ISSUP, Martin O. Agwogie, made this known on Thursday in Abuja during the formal inauguration of the organization.
According to him, “Based on the scientific fact that the field of drug demand reduction is rapidly evolving, the policies and laws of yesteryears have been found inadequate to address present day drug situations. Thus we must contribute to reversing this unwholesome trend.”
He explained that a lack of professional practice among stakeholders in the field of drug demand reduction in Nigeria has caused more grievous damage to the health and well-being of individuals and our nation.
He further added: “We are in full collaboration with relevant stakeholders towards the introduction of addiction prevention, treatment and policy as a standard international course of study in our higher institutions of learning in Nigeria.
“We believe this will help to consolidate and sustain the professionalization of drug demand reduction in Nigeria. To this end, I am pleased to state that the introduction of addiction studies has reached an advanced stage in two Nigerian universities. In few years from now we shall have addiction studies being offered from first degree to doctoral levels.
“Our vision is to build a united, trained, skilled, knowledgeable and effective multidisciplinary national network of substance use prevention, treatment, recovery professionals and researchers undertaking and promoting high quality evidence-based substance use prevention, treatment and policies.”
The Chairman of the occasion Brig. Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa, in his address explained that professionalizing the field of drug demand reduction will subsequently contribute significantly towards addressing the challenges of substance abuse in Nigeria.
According to him, “The lack of professional practice among stakeholders in the field of drug demand reduction in Nigeria has caused more damage to the health and well-being of individuals and our nation. Therefore, practitioners need to be professionally guided.
“This inauguration is coming at a time when the Federal Government of Nigeria is taking holistic steps towards addressing the challenges of substance abuse in Nigeria. One of which was the setting up of a Presidential Advisory Committee on the Elimination of Drug Abuse under my supervision.
“The setting up of the committee was a demonstration of political will on the part of this present administration to reverse the alarming trend of substance abuse in the past few years which has become a threat to public health, national stability, peace and security.
“Statistics shows that while global prevalence of drug use is 5.6%, in Nigeria it is 14.4% (14.3 million people). 1 in 7 persons in Nigeria between the ages of 15 and 64 years use at least one psychoactive substance as against global average of 1 in 20. 1 in 5 persons who use drugs in Nigeria are suffering from substance use disorders.
“14% of the world population who misuses pharmaceutical opioids are in Nigeria, thereby making Nigeria one of the countries in the world with the highest population of people who misuses tramadol and codeine cough syrup.
“These are not figures we should be proud of as a nation. More worrisome, is the ingenuity and complex mixture associated with drug use where poly drug use is a norm among drug users.
“Another major concern is the age of drug initiation where primary school ages are already exposed to drug use. This has more long term implications in the development of substance use disorders because of the stage of their brain development.”
“As a committee, we are taking a holistic look at addressing the drug situation both from the supply side, in terms of supply suppression and the demand side.
“Once we are able to address the demand side sufficiently, we would have succeeded significantly in our drug control efforts,” he said.
The ISSUP currently has a membership capacity of over 700 Nigerians in the field of drug demand reduction. Also, its membership cuts across different professions/disciplines and organizations.