At a time when drug abuse is a national health issue, Nigeria may soon relax its law against planting and consumption of cannabis, with declaration that the United Nations ((UN) has approved usage of the drug for medical purposes.
The position of UN on the usage and abuse of drug was declared by Project Officer of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Nigeria, Harsheth Kaur Virk, in her presentation at a one day Public hearing on the need to check rising menace of Pharmaceutical drugs abuse among youth in Nigeria organised by the Senate Committee on Drugs, Narcotics and Health.
According to her, Cannabis is a miracle drug allowed for medical purposes by the United Nations, but not for recreational purposes. She said: “Nigeria as a sovereign Nation has its stringent laws against it but international conventions of the UN have approved it for medical purposes based on outcome of researches conducted to that effect by globally recognized institutes.”
According to her, aside cannabis, recreational users of other addictive drugs by UN recommendation, should not be criminalised, but rehabilitated, adding, “The Drugs and Crime office of the UN sees addictive drugs users as people who are sick, in need of treatment, care and rehabilitation.”
The UN official however pointed out that the global body was against drug trafficking. She charged Nigeria’s security agencies to be proactive in their anti-drug trafficking campaign and not reactive.
