A non-governmental organisation, The Drug Salvation Foundation (TDSF), has facilitated a training on Drug Prevention, Treatment and Care (DPTC) Sensitisation for officers of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF). The three-day programme, held November 4-6 at the Lsgos State Police Command, was executed with technical support from the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC).

The training for selected key Police officers, employed adult learning principles by mixing theoretical, practical, discussion, debates and film screenings to challenge and enhance engagement and interest among participants.

Commenting on the programme, TDSF President, Wilson Ighodalo, said: “This project ‘DPTC Sensitisation Training Initiative’ for the Nigeria Police Force on response to Drug Abuse in Nigeria could not have come at a better time considering prevalent drug use in the society among the rich, poor, work place, male, female and young people.

“The (prevalence) of drug abuse prevalent motivated President Muhammadu Buhari to set up the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Elimination of Drug Abuse (PACEDA), chaired by Brig Gen Buba Marwa (rtd). The Committee was set up in December 2018 by the President to advice on how to address the growing challenge of drug abuse in the country.

“The Committee presented its findings and recommendations to President Buhari on Friday October 18, 2019 who identified ensuring the security and well-being of the Nigerian populace as a responsibility of his government and called for multi-sectoral effort in addressing the rising drug challenge in the country.

“The Nigeria Police Force has pivotal role to play on response to drug abuse because the Police Force are the closest to the communities, so training Nigeria Police Force Personnel on evidence based law enforcement, criminal justice system and Public health on response to drug abuse is very important.”

Continuing, Ighodalo said: “Drug use has now been globally recognised as a public health issue.

“The language of ‘War Against Drug Abuse’ as often used in drug control response is often synonymous with repression and measures that do not conform with human rights standards.

“These are not in sync with what a public health principle truly holds. More so, as evidence has shown in many society and many climes, such a war becomes a war on People who Use drugs and get expressed in many forms such brutality, criminalisation, denial of health services, stigmatisation, forced detention in the name of treatment and many more.

“We believe, and as the President mentioned, that it is time for us to expand our drug control response beyond the narrow approach of the criminal justice system to providing a holistic response. We would also like to add that such effort should refocus our drug control indicators to promote the human rights, health and well-being of the general public particularly vulnerable and marginalised communities.

“While this presidential step is laudable, it is important to highlight the need to tackle this drug abuse response through training the Nigeria Police Force on Drug Prevention, Treatments and Care (DPTC) Sensitisation.

“Furthermore, Nigeria’s implementation of the Universal Health Coverage which is currently at the fore of global discourse, rooted in the principle of leaving no one behind, can only and truly be achieved when the government invests in Harm Reduction services to mitigate the health consequences of drug use and achieve the health for all mandate.

“The Drug Salvation Foundation-Nigeria is committed to evidence-based-informed drug training and policy reform in Nigeria and we look forward to the next course of action by the government and strongly believe after the Nigeria Police Force training will result on humane, human right and public health oriented central to addressing drug use challenge in the country.”

The DPTC training which is in phases (all the 36 States Police Commands & FCT) target to change the perception and approach of the officers of the Nigeria Police Force to the Drug User and the Drug Use Problem in Nigeria.

Ighodalo expressed appreciation to “the entire Nigeria Police Force, Inspector General of Police Mohammed Adamu, Force PRO ACP Frank Mba and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)” for making the programme a success.