Codeine Drug Abuse: Senate To Introduce Drug Control, Mental Health Bills

Following the rise in the abuse of codeine syrup, the Senate is set to introduce the Drug Control Bill and the Mental Health Bill, which will help to curb the illicit trafficking of the substance.

Senate President, Bukola Saraki, in a statement on his Twitter handle, said watching the BBC Africa documentary on the issue had put him on his toes.

He said, “The widespread nature of this drug and substance abuse problem in Nigeria is why the Senate convened the roundtable on drug abuse in Kano in December.

“Even though I have been working on this issue for a few months now, watching the BBC Africa documentary last night was another eye-opener. Nigerians can now see that if care is not taken, we could be sitting on a catastrophe.

“We cannot all just fold our arms and expect this drug abuse issue to fix itself. This is everybody’s problem.

“As things stand, the Senate has already developed a draft legislative framework for the control of narcotics and psychotropic substances and the provision of mental health and substance abuse services in Nigeria.

“With the Drug Control Bill that we are set to introduce, the mandate of the NDLEA, NAFDAC and other relevant law enforcement and regulatory bodies will be strengthened to eradicate the illicit production, and trafficking of controlled substances.

“The Mental Health Bill will ensure the availability of mental health and substance abuse services in every state.

“This is because, we cannot continue like this. We cannot continue to have one psychiatrist for every 1.6 million Nigerians and expect this substance abuse problem to go away.”