Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Brigadier-General Buba Marwa, has explained why cannabis cannot be legalised in Nigeria right now.
Speaking at an event in Akure, Ondo State, the NDLEA Chief Executive said, the proliferation of illicit drugs often engenders a pattern of crime, chaos and conflict. In the advanced world, it is the driver of high crime rate and violent killings in the inner cities. In developing or Third World countries, it is the escalator of strife, pogroms and civil war, and has played a big role in countries turn to pieces by tribal war.
According to Femi Babafemi, NDLEA’s spokesperson, Marwa said, “We have seen narco-terrorism in countries like Colombia and Mexico where drug cartels are law unto themselves and are as powerful, if not more powerful, than the State. So, there are real cases, not scenarios, of where and how illicit substances played a role in a society's rapid descent into chaos and tettering on the brink of a failed state.
So the pertinent question for us today is: Has drugs played any role in the festering insecurity in Nigeria? The answer is yes. Of this we have ample evidence.
Considering the intractable burden of insecurity facing the country, we do not have the luxury of allowing a narcotic economy to take root and thrive in our society. Africa, nay, Nigeria has enough problems without adding the burden of narco-terrorism.
Of all the known illicit substances, cannabis sativa is the only one that is native to Nigeria and it is the most abused of all illicit drugs, and from the findings of the National drug Survey of 2018, cannabis is becoming a national albatross.
As far as NDLEA is concerned, cannabis remains an illicit substance. The Agency shall always canvass against its cultivation, possession, trafficking and sales, and use. And offenders will face the wrath of the law. And, if I may add, our conviction rate is 90% successful.”
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