Marwa Commends House Of Representative Members For Rejecting Bill Seeking To Legalise Cannabis Sales, Smoking
Chairman and Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Brig. General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), on Friday, commended the members, and leaders of the House of Representatives for rejecting yet another attempt to push through a bill to de-criminalise cannabis cultivation.
Chairman and Chief Executive of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, Brig. General Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), on Friday, commended the members and leaders of the House of Representatives, for rejecting attempt to push through a bill to legalise cannabis cultivation.
The bill will give powers to illicit drug sellers to sell drugs to the users of illicit cannabis in Nigeria. However, the Representatives opposed the bill on the floor of the Green Chamber of the National Assembly on Thursday 23rd March.
Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Headquarters, Abuja, Femi Babafemi, on
Friday, in a statement said while responding to the actions of the Representative members said on Friday that the NDLEA boss, hailed the decision of the majority of the lawmakers, to reject the bill.
He said it would further strengthen the gains so far made in the renewed war against drug abuse and trafficking in the country.
He said the 2018 drug survey figure of 10.6million Nigerians abusing cannabis alone was enough to sound the alarm bell, adding that the strong nexus between drug abuse and the security challenges across the country was incontrovertible.
"According to him, Insecurity is today, a full-blown malady with many manifestations such as insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, murder, robbery, reprisal killing, name it.
"Yet there has never been a government that is more committed to ending this spate of insecurity than the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
"The President has matched political willpower with resources, but the scope and frequency of these acts of destabilisation and the audacity displayed by the perpetrators call for a second, critical look at the malaise." The statement said.
Babafemi added that the persistence of the problem has forced on Nigerians, the necessity to start to look at likely extraneous factors that might be sustaining the resistance from the criminal elements and in doing so, try to connect the dots.
"The permutations will lead to a list of probable causes, which will not exclude the use and abuse of illicit substances. In the final analysis, drug abuse is indeed one of the factors fueling insecurity.
"As such, Nigeria cannot afford to permit the cultivation, sale and use of the most abused illicit drug under whatever guise.
"This is why the decision by the honorable members of the House of Representatives to reject the reintroduction of the cannabis bill is a welcome and cheering news to us in NDLEA and the Nigerian public especially parents who daily and silently contend with the pains of seeing millions of their kids and wards go down under the devastating effects of cannabis abuse.
"Marwa said history will never forget those who stand with parents to protect them and their children from any legislation, under any shape or form, that will turn Nigeria to a nation of junkies and criminals, which will amount to taking a step forward and ten steps backward in the prevailing circumstance." The statement said.
What's Your Reaction?
