A non-governmental organisation identified as Christ Against Drug Abuse Ministry (CADAM), has raised the alarm over increasing cases of drug use in Nigeria, explaining that an estimated 10.6 million people (10.8 percent) of the population had used cannabis in the past year while opioids accounted for 4.6 million.
The NGO believes most of the users of the harmful substances were youths which spells doom for the future.
The Director-General of CADAM, Dr. Dokun Adedeji regretted that despite several disorders associated with drug use, an estimated 14.4 percent of the population in Nigeria or 14.3 million people between the ages of 15 to 64 years used drugs in 2017, ‘representing a prevalence rate of almost 3 times of the world average. One in five of these suffers from drug use disorder.
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Speaking in Lagos ahead of the World Drug Day awareness walk slated for 26th June, Adedeji said that in Nigeria, one in seven persons aged 15-64 years had used a drug as compared to the global average of 1 in 20.
He disclosed that CADAM as a faith-based NGO under the auspices of the Redeemed Christian Church of God had treated and rehabilitated over 3,000 people with drug use disorder, “our rehabilitation and treatment services are offered free to all beneficiaries at the world-class, 200 bed Enoch and Folu Adeboye Rehabilitation Centre in Epe at a program which runs for one year.
‘The Moji Balogun Rehabilitation Centre in Abeokuta caters to undergraduates and workers in a 3-month intensive program. Through our prevention programs, we have been able to engage many communities with well-thought-out evidence-based preventive care programs.
‘After 30 years of doing good and restoring hope, CADAM plans to do more by extending services to other states of the federation in the near future in partnership with both private and public institutions.’
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
