NDLEA convicts 27 drug offenders in Rivers in 7 months

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says it convicted 27 drug offenders in Rivers State between January and July 2017.

Emmanuel Ogbungbada, Public Relations Officer PRO of the NDLEA who made the information public in Port Harcourt said the 27 convicted persons are among 160 drug suspects arrested in state in the past seven months.

The agency in a statement released at weekend also advised youths and Nigerians in general to avoid the intake of illicit drugs such as tramadol.

Ogbungbada, blamed the rising use of illicit drugs in recent times on peer pressure and lack of adequate parental care.

He counselled, “I will advise our youths to beware of the consequences of drug abuse. A philosopher once said ‘if you want to destroy the society introduce drugs to the young ones and they will not have leaders of tomorrow’. So I will advise our young ones to desist from drugs.”

The spokesman of the NDLEA added, “and even some very responsible homes but because the parents are not there to give that child adequate parental care, other people will help him and of course negatively. So l will advise both parents and the youths alike to ensure they avoid the use of drugs”.

He warned that illicit drugs such as tramadol besides destroying the human system also can lead to death.

“Tramadol is very deadly, especially if it is consumed along with alcohol. The person is sure to die in the next five years. And then sometimes tramadol does not give warning. You see its victim just slumps and dies. The abuse of drugs is very dangerous, it is very dangerous. Apart from the physical consequences like damage to the liver, damage to the kidney, heart problems and all that there are also social problems like road crashes, road accidents. Drugs lead to accidents, industrial accidents, and so on and so forth.”

He also blame intake of illicit drugs for other crimes like cultism, militancy, rape saying that perpetrators of these crimes were usually under the influence of drugs. And so it is general problem because everyone is affected one way or the other and so should join hands to fight it.

“The effects of drugs goes round, it affects everyone in the society and so it’s something we should look at very critically,” the NDLEA PRO stated.