Workshop participants on Thursday raised concerns at the involvement of more girls and ladies in drug abuse, urging collective action to tackle it.
They said in Lagos that there was a need for the youth generally to desist from substance abuse in the interest of the general society.
The stakeholders spoke at an International Society for Substance Abuse and Crime (ISOPSAC) workshop in Lagos.
The workshop had the theme: “Confronting the New Frontiers of Substance Abuse and Crime: Protecting Our Young People and Communities from the Twin Threats.”
It was held at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research.
Prof. Olunifesi Suraj of the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos, said that substance abuse remained a challenge to any society.
Suraj, the guest speaker at the event, said that substance abuse prevalence in Nigeria was high.
He expressed worry that girls and ladies were getting more involved in drug abuse, adding that the vice had led many into banditry and prostitution.
He called for censorship of books, television programmes, advertisements and social media messages to prevent bad influence on young people.
According to him, the influence of Western culture on the youth was negatively affecting African culture and family values which do not support substance abuse.
“Through the media too, the fight against the menace can be made by cataloguing people whose lives have been destroyed through drugs abuse and regularly air it in the media to prick the minds of youths and make them to desist from it.
He listed the consequences of the menace to include emotional retardation, family disintegration, loss of self-control and poor educational performance.
He advocated collaborative efforts by the family, religious organisations, schools and the media to end the menace.
The lecturer called on teachers and religious leaders to inculcate moral values into their students and followers.
“Influencial persons to the youth such as music icons should be co-opted into the campaign against substance abuse by making them to talk against it in their songs so that such messages will stick to the minds of the youth,” he said.
“The society, the family, schools and faith bodies have roles to play,” he said.
A Director at the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mrs Yetunde Adenuga said that Nigeria had a 40.4 per cent substance abuse prevalence rate as of 2018, adding that the increase in abuse narcotics such as tramadol and codeine was alarming.
She warned youths to desist from substance abuse and urged parents to do their best to prevent their children from substance abuse.
The Executive Director of ISOPSAC, Mr Olakunle Babalola, said that the organisation was taking the fight against substance abuse with a high level of commitment.
Babalola said that the correlation between substance abuse and crime is strong.
He called for stronger measures from governments to tackle the menace more effectively.
NAN
