Worried by the effect of hard drugs on people, a non-governmental organisation, Center for the Right to Health (CRH) has organised a sensitisation workshop for police officers in Abuja.
The workshop, organised in conjunction with the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) was designed to create awareness on drug use, drug prevention, drug treatment services and harm reduction practices among stakeholders was attended by police officers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
In a message to the occasion, the FCT police commissioner said drug abuse is a criminal issue and the police react to it accordingly.
Assistant Commissioner of Police, Department of Criminal Investigation, FCT Command, Wan Mantu Chongs, who represented the CP said there are people who have health-related issues as a result of hard drugs consumption.
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He said the FCT police command has made an arrest of some high and mighty who go into drugs, not for money, but as a matter of habit and added also that, investigation shows that people take drugs to commit various forms of crimes.
“It is difficult to get a cultist that is not into drugs. Drugs, to some extent, play a major role in influencing crime”, the ACP stated.
While commending the organisers of the workshop, Chongs said the Command will do its best to change the narration on drug issues and added that, the workshop will help the police in isolating people who take drugs to commit crime from those who do so for pleasure, to be able to deal with them.
Speaking earlier, the executive director of the Center for the Right to Health, Dr Stella Iwuagwu said the essence of the workshop is to sensitise the police on how to deal with drug relates issues in FCT.
She called on stakeholders to stand up in the fight against drugs in view of its effects on the consumers.
In her words, ” Police in FCT should have more understanding on drugs issues to know who to send to rehabilitation centres and who to send to jail. Youths need to understand the destructive nature of drugs”, she said.
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