Skip to main content

Drug Abuse: Senate Initiates 2 Bills

Nigerian-Senate
The Senate has developed two draft bills for legislation to tackle drug abuse.
This was part of the outcome of the roundtable convened by the President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, in December 2017 in Kano on the rising drug abuse in the country.
The proposed bills are National Drug Control Bill and National Mental Health Bill.
A statement by the Media Office of the President of the Senate said the Drug Control Bill seeks to clarify the mandate and strengthen the capacity of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to eradicate the illicit production, and trafficking of controlled substances.
“It also seeks to establish a central mechanism to facilitate collaboration among law enforcement, regulatory and public health authorities in line with the National Drug Control Policy.
“The Bill further focuses on proactive law enforcement and regulatory measures towards the eradication of the illicit importation, production and trafficking of controlled substances.”
The statement further said the bill sought to criminalise the diversion, distribution or otherwise dispensing of controlled substances without a prescription or license.
On mental health bill, the statement noted that, in recognition of the fact that psychosocial issues are the key drivers for the abuse of the psychoactive substance, the bill was crafted to ensure that standard facilities were available in every state to provide mental health and substance abuse services.
The proposed law guarantees the protection of the rights of people with mental illness and stipulates that mental health practitioners and facilities no longer engage in practices that are harmful to people with mental health and substance use disorders.
In recognising the low number of mental health practitioners in the country with the ratio of practitioners at one psychiatrist to 1.6 million people, the draft law makes provision for quality mental health and substance abuse services available for women and adolescents, who are an underserved segment of the population.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

U.S. Charges Iranians For Global Cyber Attacks

The attack pilfered more than 31 terabytes of academic data and intellectual property.                   WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Friday charged nine Iranians and an Iranian company with attempting to hack into hundreds of U.S. and international universities, dozens of companies and parts of the U.S. government on behalf of the Tehran government. The cyber attack pilfered more than 31 terabytes of academic data and intellectual property from 144 U.S. universities and 176 universities in 21 foreign countries, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement. The U.S. Treasury Department said on its website that it was placing sanctions on those accused and the Mabna Institute, a company described by U.S. prosecutors as designed to help Iranian research organizations steal information. “These defendants are now fugitives of justice,” U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstei...
Post a Comment
Read more

3 people die, 8 injured during a birthday party clash in Bauchi State

                        The Bauchi State police command have confirmed that three persons were killed and eight others injured in a clash that erupted at a birthday party on Sunday night in Lushi Ward in Bauchi. The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Kamal Abubakar, confirmed the incident saying that 75 suspects had been arrested in connection with the clash. He said that two houses were burnt during the incident and that the situation has been brought under control. He also said that investigation was going on to get to the root of the crisis. According to Abubakar, the crisis started following a misunderstanding among some youths at a birthday party in Kusu area of Sakani which later spread to other parts of Yelwa Ward. An eye witness said that the incident might have started when two young men fought over a young lady a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Police Arrest 'Three Notorious Kidnappers' Of Channels TV Reporter Friday Okeregbe

The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) says it has arrested “three notorious persons” involved in the kidnap of Friday Okeregbe, the Channels reporter who covers the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. Okeregbe was  kidnapped on March 22  along Games Village in Abuja while on his way from his mechanic's workshop. He was released a few days later, but that was only after the kidnappers had contacted his family to demand a ransom of N50m. On Sunday, the Police announced the capture of three of the kidnappers and released details of the abduction. “In line with the IGP’s stated commitment to curb all forms of crimes and criminality, especially incidences of kidnapping and other violent crimes in the country, Police Operatives attached to Operation Puff Adder, acting on intelligence report, on 9th April, 2019 at about 6:30am arrested three (3) notorious persons involved in the kidnap of Channels Television’s staff, Mr. Friday Okeregbe,” read a stateme...
Post a Comment
Read more