Tina Akannam
14 November 2008
Jigawa State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) weekend, declared that the North-West geo-political zone of the country has the highest case of drug addicts, saying 3 million bottles of Benylin cough syrup are being consumed in Jigawa and Kano States alone.
The Jigawa State Commandant of NDLEA, Alhaji Muhammed Misba'u Idris, disclosed this while flagging-off the national awareness campaign against the abuse of hard drugs trafficking and cultivation of the illicit weeds in the state.
Alhaji Idris explained that from the record of drug abuse, the North-West has a statistics of 755 drug abusers, which is 37.47 percent of drug victims in the country, while the South-West has 347 drug abusers, which is about 17.32 percent and South-East is been rated third with 263, estimated at 13.5, North-Central has 236, representing 11.71 percent, while the North-East zone has 172, which is 8.54 percent of drug abusers in the country.
The Commandant then disclosed that the Agency had arrested 50 drug barons, seized over one tonne of different illicit drugs, mainly cannabis sativa (Indian hemp), adding that that about 1.2 million metric tonnes of cannabis sativa, which is about 80 percent are produce from Edo, Delta, Ondo,Ekiti and Osun States yearly.
He said the different types of drugs are solution, lizard dungs, Delta 9, madrax, magdon and valium. Others are Benylin (cough syrup) solvent, cannabis sativa, kwana tara, Arungumi zaki, Tsumi, among other hard drugs.
Said he: "It was estimated that over 3 million bottles of Benylin syrup are being consume in both Kano and Jigawa States daily due to the scarcity of cocaine. We are ready to apprehend any person caught in possession of illicit drugs".
At the rally, which was made up of journalist, police, Road Safety, NSCDC, NYSC members and NGO's, Alhaji Idris issue a warning to drug peddlers to change as the wrath of the law awaits them, adding that drug barons stand the risk of serving life imprisonment.
He appealled to all to join in the crusade to prevention the cultivation of illicit and drug abuse and trafficking.
Alhaji Misba'u commended the state government for assisting the agency with 2 vehicles to ease logistic problem which he said seriously hampered their operation in the state.
Speaking on behalf of the state government, the head of service, Alhaji Mustapha Aminu Suleiman commended NDLEA for carrying out awareness campaign on the dangers of drugs abuse in the state, and urged youth in the state to shun drug abuse, saying drug threat to human life as well destroyed the economy.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
