NGO seeks amendment of law criminalising drug use
Smiles Africa International Youth Development Initiative (SAIYDI) is advocating for the review of laws that criminalise the use of hard drugs for recreational purposes in Nigeria.
Purpose Iserhienrhien, Executive Director, SAIYDI, advocated for this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Benin.
Iserhienrhien, who spoke to NAN on the sideline of a three-day capacity building for People Who Use Drugs (PWUD), said that the government should make recreational drugs safe for those using them.
The exercise was tagged “Three-day Capacity Building Workshop on Legal Education, Paralegal Services, and Human Rights Violation Documentation.”
He explained that there was need for the law criminalising the use of certain drugs to be reviewed to them safe for recreational purposes.
“When you have the right information about a drug, you don’t misuse it. People should be allowed to take drugs for recreational purposes.
“People take recreational drugs to increase their stamina, to feel happy and to have more energy; everybody taking drug is not into crime.
“If these drugs are accessible and controlled, it will encourage safe use and this will in turn reduce drug overdose and crimes.
“We are looking at the review of the law to attack the major enemy, which are the people who sell these drugs at the black market,” he said.
He said the capacity building was to enable PWUD to render legal education to community members when they have cases of human rights violations.
The executive director said the capacity building was part of a one-year programme geared towards integrating access to legal empowerment and access to justice for PWUD.
“It is a one year programme sponsored by Initiative Sankofa d’Afrique de I’Quest) (ISDAO) and Love Alliance grant.
“The main reason for the project is to reduce the numbers of arrest of PWUD and to make the authorities see drug addicts as people with health issues and not criminal issue.’’
According to him, because of the law criminalising use of some drugs, a lot of people are now discovering other substances that have more harmful effects than the illegal drugs.
He said that the organisation had earlier trained PWUD on their safety and security so that they don’t take drug overdoses.
NAN reports that according to Wikipedia, recreational drugs use is the use of one or more psychoactive drugs to induce an altered state of consciousness, either for pleasure or for some other casual purpose or pastime.
