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

Covid-19: 32 African countries report less than 5,000 COVID-19 cases

Some 32 African countries have so far reported less than 5,000 COVID-19 cases amid a major spike of new cases across few African countries. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) disclosed this in a statement issued on Monday in Addis Ababa. According to the centre, the number of confirmed cases in Africa surged to 1,187,937 as the death toll from the pandemic rose to 27,779 as at Monday. It added that eight African countries had reported positive COVID-19 cases ranging from 5,000 to 10,000. Africa CDC also said 11 countries have so far reported cases within the range of 10,001 to 50,000 positive COVID-19 cases. Meanwhile, three African countries – Egypt, Nigeria and Morocco – reported positive cases ranging within 50,001 to 100,000. South Africa is the only African country that reported above 100,000 confirmed positive cases so far, which stands at 609,773, according to the Africa CDC. The country also has the highest number of deaths related to COVID-19, a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Two Koreas dismantle propaganda loudspeakers at border

                              The rival Koreas dismantled huge loudspeakers used to blare Cold War-style propaganda across their tense border on Tuesday, as South Korea's president asked the United Nations to observe the North's planned closing of its nuclear test site. The dismantling of dozens of loudspeakers was in line with an agreement on reconciliation by the leaders of the Koreas at their historic summit last Friday. It is still unclear if such measures can bring permanent peace because no major breakthrough in the North Korean nuclear standoff was produced at the summit.                              South Korean soldiers disassembled loudspeakers in multiple front-line areas in the presen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Area Commanders, DPOs On Payroll Of Fraudsters – Lagos CP

Lagos State Police Commissioner, Fatai Owoseni has warned Area Commanders and Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) in the state police command to shun bribery or leave the state, saying that some of them are on the payroll of fraudsters. Owoseni stated this during a lecture on Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officers at the Police Officers’ Wives’ Association (POWA) Hall, Ikeja. He warned that the era of impunity and corruption among cops was gone, appealing to his subordinates to come for transfer if they would not want to play by the rules in the state. He said: “I am tired of hearing about shooting or killing of innocent persons. No one has the right to take another man’s life. It is only God that has the right to take life. “It is your responsibility as a DPO to know those who are collecting bribe under you. If you refuse to stop them, they will stop you from being a DPO. “It is embarrassing to see policemen collecting bribes and chasing yahoo yahoo boys for a DPO. I ...
Post a Comment
Read more