Ondo State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has arrested 154 drug offenders.
The agency said 46 others were convicted and sentenced to various jail terms between January and June 2022.
Speaking with journalists in Akure, the state capital, the commander of the agency, Mr Mumuni Raji, said among those arrested were 28 females, while 126 were males.
He expressed worry over the increased number of drug offenders in the state.
According to him, “we have successfully convicted 46 from January to June in 2022 and are serving various jail terms. We see it as a great development.
“We arrested 154 drug offenders in the state. This is worrisome because, by the end of the last year 2021, we only arrested 80 offenders. There were cases of some parents who voluntarily brought their children for rehabilitation,” he said.
Raji stressed that the agency sometimes engages the services of medical practitioners and Psychiatrists from the Federal Medical Center (FMC), Owo to also see it from their professional angle.
He said the involvement of medical practitioners is necessary because some of the drug addicts come with mental cases.
“These doctors counsel them, but for those arrested, all we do is prosecute them. We have put in place awareness programmes aimed at sensitising the public against drug abuse.
“We go to secondary schools, tertiary institutions, marketplaces, motor parks, churches and mosques to drum up awareness on the effects of drugs and why they should stop taking them.
He, however, advised the people of Ondo state to stay away from any act of criminality and drug dealings, saying drug dealings and drug abuse pay nobody.
His words, “There are no benefits in drug abuse. Whatever anyone does with the drug is evil. Drug dealers should find a better way of making legitimate income because drug deals will lead them to destruction or land them in jail.”
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