ADDRESS DELIVERED BY PEOPLE AGAINST DRUG DEPENDENCE & IGNORANCE AT A MEDIA-NGO-CIVIL SOCIETY ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION IN COMMEMORATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST DRUG ABUSE AND ILLICIT TRAFFICKING

JUNE 24TH 2003

Gentlemen of the media
Members of the civil society
Ladies and gentlemen.

On behalf of the board of trustees and members of PADDI, It is my pleasure to welcome you all to this media-round table discussion in commemoration of this year 2003 International day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

This years marks the 13th annual edition of the celebration of June 26th as the International day against Drug Abuse .The theme for this years commemoration is ‘’Lets talk about drugs’’ and that is exactly what we are here to do -talk about drugs.

With the exception of prescription medicines, when we hear the term ‘drugs’ mentioned, our thoughts immediately revert to such substances as Heroin, Cocaine, Xtacy, Crack and other mind-altering substances. The substances above mentioned all come within the category commonly referred to as ‘hard drugs ’. The NDLEA, particularly, The Customs and other security agencies have been doing a wonderful job striving towards the eradication of the scourge of [hard] drug abuse [trafficking & usage- as non of this hard drugs are indigenous to Nigeria].

We shall today, focus our discussion on substances termed ‘soft drugs’. These drugs are in most cases indigenous to our Nigerian environment and thus readily available & cheaper. Due to the frequency of the usage of these substances, we at times fail to realize that over time, usage of such substances equally can yield to fatal or otherwise unpleasant consequences. Ordinarily our minds may now be focused squarely on such substances as Indian hemp (cannabis), Glue, Zakami and other local products.

This is quite right .We readily overlook an equally dangerous product, composed of mind altering substances [such as nicotine, menthol ammonia amongst several others], Scientifically proven to be the leading singular cause of death worldwide [causes an estimated 5million death per annum, more than the cumulative total of deaths caused by HIV\AIDS, murder suicide and vehicular accidents worldwide] and specifically identified in the information education campaign [IEC] manuals and pamphlets of both the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and National Agency for Food, Drug Administration & Control (NAFDAC) as a gateway drug. This product is tobacco [cigarette].

Cigarette! Some of you here will be astounded. But, oh yes, cigarette. The 1994 Oxford medical companion describes cigarette as ‘the only legally available consumer product, which kills people when it is entirely used as intended’.

The question immediately arises,’can we legitimately label cigarette as a ‘drug’? Lets put the issue to a test:
Is cigarette addictive? Yes!
Is cigarette injurious to health? Yes
Can users of cigarette become dependent thereon? Yes
Cigarette has the quality of a substance of abuse, thus it actually ought to be treated as a drug.

One may be tempted to ask ‘What effort is PADDI making to adequately sensitize Nigerians on this previously unbroached addition to the drug abuse scourge plaguing our nation?’:

1) We have in the course of the past one week dispatched to the director general, NAFDAC urging the agency to expand the scope of its activities to cover the tobacco industry
2) Dispatched a letter to the Chairman, NDLEA clarifying the need to explore curbing exposure of our youth to gateway drugs.
3) Petitioned the entire members of the Senate & Federal. House of Representatives on the need to ratify the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), and
4) Addressed a letter to the President of the Federal Republic urging him to ensure that Nigerians takes a leadership role amongst African countries by being one of the first countries in the continent to Sign, Ratify & Implement the FCTC.

Local statistics reveal that there is a direct synthesis between age of consumption of first stick of cigarette and later experimentation [and subsequent usage/dependence] on more potent substances. The younger the age of first consumption of cigarette, the higher the likelihood of experimenting with hard drugs.

As such it is only commonsensical to urge all well mean Nigerians, who are particularly concerned with the drug abuse situation in Nigeria to curtail the tobacco epidemic currently plaguing our country.

Previously in this country, we have deluded our selves by focusing on ‘hard drug’, substances that the average Nigerian [Child, Youth & Adult] never get to see, whilst neglecting the root cause of this social vice, a seemingly ordinary, commonly available and (generally) more deadly product - the Cigarette.

The lack of focus on cigarettes over the years has not been perchance. Rather it has been the result of deliberately tactful, deceitful and at times brazenly criminal distortions and manipulations of varying societal factors by multinational tobacco companies. Internal documents and correspondents of the Tobacco Industry (which the said multinational tobacco companies were forced to reveal and deposit at the reach of the public) attest to the fact that the Tobacco Industry has been all along aware of the injurious, addictive and deadly effects of their product.

Unlike most other substances of abuse, which primarily pose a source of danger to the individual user, cigarette consumption constitutes a health hazard not only to the smoker, but also to persons who are unfortunate enough to be within the ‘area’ of smoke. Such passive smokers have been documented to have increased risks of lung cancer, heart diseases amongst several other ailments. The unborn child of a pregnant woman is not spared the ills of cigarette smoke, not necessarily cigarette smoked by the pregnant woman, but also those smoked by bystanders.

In our “Talk About Drug” today in commemoration of the United Nations designated International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, we are focusing on the number one ‘gateway drug’ (cigarette) not as a means of de-emphasizing the need to continue the ‘war’ against hard drugs, a war that must be fought to its conclusive end as our society cannot afford to loose the war. Far from it, we opted to focus on cigarette, which is actually a packaging of the addictive substance, nicotine, and several other substance, in the believe that if we as a nation deploy some of the arsenal in our war against substance abuse on this most primary of products, we will ultimately be ‘nipping in the bud’, the drug problem of the future.

Let us continue to talk about drug, all dangerous drugs – how to ameliorate and ultimately eradicate this most heinous of societal scourges.

Let the discussions begin.

Thank you and God bless

Yours truly,
For: PEOPLE AGAINST DRUG DEPENDENCE & IGNORANCE (PADDI)

CHIZO NGOKA (RN. RM.)
Project Director (Gender & Youths)

Communique 2000