NDLEA: About 10.6m Nigerians Use Cannabis

Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (@ndlea_nigeria), Brigadier-General Buba Marwa, has disclosed that the country has a serious drug-use challenge on its hands as it ranks first in cannabis consumption all over the world.

He made the disclosure while speaking at the 2nd edition of the Vanguard Mental Health Summit. He announced that available information suggests that no less than 10.6 million Nigerians abuse cannabis.

Speaking, he said, “The average global drug use prevalence was 5.5 percent; at 14.4 percent, Nigeria has almost three times the global prevalence. Without any doubt, the country has a serious substance abuse problem.

“Secondly, the survey gave us an idea about the pattern of abuse vis-a-vis prevalence and substance type in various regions of the country.

He added, “The biggest revelation was that 10.6 million Nigerians abused cannabis. Again, this is a mere figure until you begin to figure it out in terms of the human impact. The ramification is that we have a cannabis-using population that is bigger than countries like Portugal and the United Arab Emirates.”