BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Osun State Command has said it nabbed 315 suspects for varying drug related offences and also seized illicit drugs that weighed 4,776.38644kg in the last one year.
This was disclosed in a statement signed by the agency’s state Commander, Nnadi Chidi in Osogbo on Monday to mark this year’s International Day Against Drug Abuse which holds every June 26.
Chidi disclosed that out of the 315 suspects, 279 are males, while 36 are females, adding that the illicit drugs confiscated from the suspects included cannabis sativa (4,735.033kg), diazepam (7.909kg), tramadol 4.896kg, methamphetamine (0.40956grms), rophynol (0.413grms), benazine (160grms), skushies (12.713kg), molly (0.011grms), codeine (1.8kg) and cocaine that weighed 47grms.
He said that 75 suspects were briefly counselled and reintegrated back to their families while 70 suspects were successfully prosecuted and convicted out of the total figure apprehended.
The state Commander pointed out that within the period of review between June 26, 2022 and June 26, 2023, 3.3 hectares of cannabis farm was destroyed at Owena Area, Oriade Local Government Area of the state.
Chidi said that the state command also recorded remarkable feat in the drug demand suppression advocacy known as War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) within the period under review, stating that, “The WADA team of the Command has continued to propagate WADA with rallies at market places, sensitization and campaigns to schools, work places, religious houses and communities aimed at arming the people of Osun State with facts about drug abuse and prevailing consequences.”
“The State Command will continue to sustain the supply control and demand suppression of drugs in collaboration with other stakeholders in Osun State. Let this also serve as a clarion and shrill call to drug cultivators and dealers in Osun State to either relocate or face the consequences of arrest and prosecution,” the NDLEA boss warned.
Speaking on the theme of the annual commemoration, Chidi said the 2023 theme is “People First: Stop Stigma and Discrimination, Strengthen Prevention,” adding that, “This year’s theme focuses on the need to be unbiased and not judgemental about drug users and dependent individuals so as to hasten their recovery and attain the goal of a drug free society.
“The society is thus charged to eschew stigmatization of drug users, discriminating against them discourages users from seeking help and making recovery difficult and a burden to the individual, family and society at large.
“Amid global strategy to curtail the menace of drug abuse, cases have remained on a rise in recent years. Consequences of drugs are fast becoming more threatening than anticipated especially among young people in Osun State. The abuse of drugs and other unconventional substance of abuse has become significant threat to public health, security and economic development.”
On the efforts of the agency in clamping down on drug abusers, he said, “Within the last commemoration of June 26 till date, Osun State Command took a giant leap in curtailing the scourge of drug abuse and illicit trafficking in the state. A total of three hundred and fifteen -315- suspects comprising two hundred and seventy nine -279 – males and thirty-six -36- females were arrested for drug related offences while the illicit drugs seized weighed 4,776.38644kg.”
