National coordinator of Come Alive Initiative, Victor Enwezor disclosed this trend at a symposium on drug abuse in Onitsha to mark this year’s International Drug Day on Tuesday, June 26.
A nongovernmental organisation based in Nigeria called Come Alive Initiative has revealed that abuse of Indian hemp has become so normal in certain parts of Nigeria that, it is served sometimes at funerals and other public functions as gifts to sympathisers.
The organisation cited Onitsa in the Anambra state of the oil rich West African country as one of the places it had observed the strange development.National coordinator of Come Alive Initiative, Victor Enwezor disclosed this trend at a symposium on drug abuse in Onitsha to mark this year’s International Drug Day on Tuesday, June 26.
The campaign was dubbed: “Drug/Substance Abuse: Its effects on the socio-economic development of communities.”
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Victor Enwezor is quoted as saying: ”If you come to some burial ceremonies or other events here in Onitsha, you will see cannabis wrapped like pills and served in tray with lighters.
“These things are in the open and nobody seems to want to talk about it.
“We need to begin to expose some of these things, unless we want to continue to live in illusion.”
He warned the Nigerian government not to dare legalise Indian hemp as has been done by some other countries, adding that his outfit has rehabilitated 28 victims of drug abuse over the past three years, while 11 others are undergoing treatment.
He also urged the government to invest in the relevant institutions such as the security services and the judiciary to enable them avoid “inducement of officials by drug barons.”
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