Drug Abusers Are Victims, Not Criminals – AHAPN Chair

The chairman of the Abuja branch of the Association of Hospital and Administrative Pharmacists of Nigeria (AHAPN), Hafsat Avosuahi Ismaila, has said people who abuse drugs and other substances are victims who deserve sympathy and not criminals as they are perceived by the public.

She made the disclosure during the association’s 4th Scientific Week and Commemoration of this year’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in Abuja at the weekend.

Ismaila said, “People that are abusing drugs are actually victims. They are not criminals. If we keep on stigmatising them, it can hamper their zeal to seek help. These people are helpless. We have to empathise with them and encourage them to leave their drug habits.”

The AHAPN chairman said the association would take its sensitisation campaigns against drug abuse to schools in the FCT, to make students aware of the dangers and effects of drug abuse, adding that the Association has instituted a Drug Abuse Club at the Government Secondary School, Asokoro, as a pilot project, to ensure that students familiarize themselves with issues of drugs and their uses and abuse.

Also, the chairman of the local organising committee, Lilian Agwaza, said concerted efforts were being made to check the abuse of drugs among children who have now overtaken the youths and adults in the illicit practice.

“The age range for drug abuse used to be from teenage to adult age, but now, it has gone down to even seven years. So, it is now of a higher prevalence, making it a very serious problem,” Agwaza said.

The International Day Against Drug Abuse And Illicit Trafficking is celebrated annually on June 26, and the theme for this year’s celebration is, “People First: Stop Stigma And Discrimination, Strengthen Prevention.”