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One Out Of Seven Nigerians Use Psychoactive Substance –Gen Buba Marwa

October 18, 2019

He also said one out of five persons, who use drugs in Nigeria, are suffering from substance use disorders, which is higher than the global average of one in 11 persons.

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One out of seven persons in Nigeria between the ages of 15 and 64 years use at least one psychoactive substance as against global average of one in 20.

This was revealed by the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Elimination of Drug Abuse in Nigeria, General Buba Marwa (Retd), who stated this at the public lecture and inauguration ceremony of the Society of Substance Use Prevention and Treatment Professionals in Abuja on Thursday.

He also said one out of five persons, who use drugs in Nigeria, are suffering from substance use disorders, which is higher than the global average of one in 11 persons.

He said though Nigeria’s population is about three per cent of the world population, it also constitutes six per cent of the world population of cannabis users and he described as alarming.

Marwa noted that 14 per cent of the world populations, who misuse pharmaceutical opioids are in Nigeria, thereby making the country one of the nations in the world with the highest population of drug abusers.

General Marwa, who was represented by Otunba Lanre Ipinmosho called for the introduction of addiction studies in the country’s higher institutions of learning, adding that it will go a long way in professionalising the field of drug demand reduction and subsequently contribute significantly towards addressing the challenges of substance abuse in Nigeria. 

 

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Drugs