NDLEA Chief commends lawmakers for rejecting cannabis bill, citing concerns for public health and safety

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency’s (NDLEA) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brig. (rtd.) General Mohamed Buba Marwa, has praised the House of Representatives’ members and leaders for rejecting a second attempt to pass a bill decriminalizing the cultivation, sale, and use of cannabis in Nigeria on Thursday in the National Assembly.

Yesterday, the agency’s Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, issued a statement in response to the development, in which he stated that the majority of lawmakers’ decision to reject the bill would further consolidate the progress that has been made in the country’s ongoing fight against drug abuse and trafficking.

He stated that the 2018 drug survey’s finding that 10.6 million Nigerians were using cannabis was sufficient to raise concerns and that the strong connection between drug abuse and the country’s security issues was undeniable.

He stated, ” Today, insecurity is a full-blown disease that manifests itself in a variety of ways, including insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, murder, robbery, retaliation for a crime—you name it. This administration, on the other hand, is more committed than any government before it to putting an end to this rash of unrest. The President has combined political willpower with resources, but the scale, frequency, and audacity of these destabilizing acts call for a second, more in-depth examination of the situation.

“The problem’s persistence has forced us to investigate the possible outside factors that may be supporting the criminal elements’ resistance and attempt to connect the dots.

A list of probable causes will be produced by the permutations, which will not exclude the misuse and use of illegal substances. In the end, drug abuse is one of the things that makes people feel unsafe. “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.” “As a result, Nigeria cannot afford to permit the cultivation, sale, and use of the most abused illicit drug under whatever guis

Marwa stated that those who stood with parents to protect their children from any legislation that would turn Nigeria into a nation of junkies and criminals—equivalent to taking a step forward and ten steps backward in the current circumstances—would never be forgotten by history.