From Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
Former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, at the weekend admonished African youths especially Nigeria to stay away from consuming hard drugs, warning addiction can lead to destruction and unrealized dreams.
This is just as other professionals in the field of managing drug addiction urged the youths to avoid all forms of temptations that can lure them into engaging in hard drugs consumption.
Speaking at the 2nd edition of Supporting the Movement Against Drug Abuse Summit, organized by the Recovery Advocacy Network and took place in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, Obasanjo said that those who were already into the menace should speak out, stressing that failure to seek help would only lead them into an untimely death.
While describing the theme of the event, “Fly Above The High” as apt, the former president who described drug abuse as ” destructive”, also lamented the growing challenge of drug abuse in the sub-Saharan West Africa.
According to him, ‘the trend has grown worse within the last 10 years”.
He emphasized that youths that have challenges with drug abuse should not hide it, but seek for help in order to get out of the catastrophic effects of addiction which include untimely death.
“While serving as the Chairman of the West African Drug Commission under the auspices of Kofi Anan Foundation, we were nine on the Commission and we went round the West Africa with the belief that we were free from drugs which come mainly from Latin America and go to North America and Europe”.
“I talk about drugs with a sense of sobriety. As the Chairman of the West African Drug Commission under the Kofi Annan Foundation, I learned that West Africa is not just a transit point for drugs but has also become a centre of consumption”.
“But to our dismay, displeasure and pain, at the end of the exercise, we found out that West Africa has equally been a centre for drug consumption in a very bad way. That was more than 10 years ago, so the situation has since gone worse. And whatever applies to West Africa, applies to all other parts of Africa,” he stated.
Obasanjo, however, lamented havoc drug abuse has caused in the lives of the youths, declaring that addiction to hard drugs is a form of a self-inflicted disease that is curable only when the victim speaks out.
“If you have made the mistake of getting addicted through anyone, the answer is ‘don’t hide, seek help and if you make efforts, you can get out of it”.
“Some diseases cannot be cured but could be managed. I have been living with diabetes for over 40 years and I am still here by the grace of God. I watch what I eat, I stick to my doctor’s advice. So, people with addiction should not hide it; they should seek help before it is too late”, he added.
The former President called on the people to support those who have gone into drugs and are willing to come out of it, adding that saying a word of prayer for them as well could prove to be the turning point.
Obasanjo advocated against the societal stigmatization of those who have already been addicted to drugs.
“I don’t believe that any disease should be seen as a stigma. I don’t believe that there’s every human being that is 100 percent absolutely healthy . Some diseases cannot be cured, it can only be managed”, Obasanjo submitted.
Ex- drug addict and survivor, Dr. Abubakar Salami advocated that Africans, particularly the Nigerian society must desist from stigmatizing the already identified drug addicts, but show love and mentorship as the only panacea for a drug-free environment.
Salami, who is the vice president of Recovery Advocacy Network, recounted the experience of his addiction and eventual liberation, stressing that “it is with only love and mentorship that we can bring these addicts out of that dark place”.
Also speaking, President of Recovery Advocacy Network, Dr. Kunle Adesina called for a very strong legislation to curb the menace of drugs availability in the country while everyone must also take ownership of the fight against drug abuse.
“My call to the government would be that primordial level of prevention, there’s need for strong legislation against substance abuse because these substances are not supposed to be available, the availability is much in our environment and the government needs to legislate to reduce this drug demand in our society. And the government should make sure that those legislations are implemented”, he said.
Adesina, a psychiatric doctor, disclosed that the last report on drug abuse in Nigeria revealed that about 14.3million people have used one substance or the other in the last six months while it has also been discovered that one out of every five users of drug is a female, confirming that the girls are also getting entangled in the web of drug abuse.