Fighting Drug Abuse

The continuing use of addictive drugs has become one of the biggest social problems threatening various societies both modern and traditional. To create awareness about the damaging effects of illicit drugs on individuals, families and the community at large, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) celebrates the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking every year on June 26. Like the rest of the world, attempts have been made over the years to address this important social issue. Many concern individuals, NGOs, church bodies and civil society in the State have been doing yeoman service in the area of prevention and intervention. While their efforts must be appreciated, the continuing concern remains on how to reduce drug demand so as to prevent the spread of HIV which is posing a big threat to the health and vitality of society especially of the younger population. That the indiscriminate abuse of drugs is a perennial problem that adds on to the HIV/AIDS menace only goes to highlight the seriousness of the issue and developing the right approach to reduce drug demand in a manner that is sustainable and workable in the local context therefore requires urgent attention.

The devastating consequences of drug abuse such as the adverse effects on health; an upsurge in crime, violence; the draining of human resources that might otherwise be used for social and economic development; the destruction of individuals, families and communities, all this makes it absolutely vital to intervene and design the right strategy that is effective and result oriented. Reducing drug demand for HIV prevention therefore should be seen as an important component in the overall strategy to address the problem of HIV/AIDS. Advocacy and Research persons should be encouraged to work towards an effective and sustainable tool that addresses the core of the problem while coming out with an intervention program that is scientific, up to date and designed to be applicable to the local milieu.

Designing a comprehensive intervention program for the State should be the immediate concern of policy makers in the government, NGOs and other agencies working in the area of reducing drug demand. As a starter, the problem has to be first understood. This means taking up the basic issues upfront and foremost. In a general sense, one of the failure of program implementation is that many a times, policy makers do not choose to get their basics right. As a result, a particular program may end up in further compounding the problem or getting lost in the complexity of the problem itself and losing track of it all. An intervention program can be designed focusing on the core problem while understanding its relationship with the other components as one of interdependence. For a drug reduction program therefore, it as important to address the issue of policing as it should likewise focus on the source of the drug. Similarly, a drug reduction program should correspondingly have a supply reduction strategy built into the overall intervention program. In other words, for a drug reduction program design, the right inputs must go in to maximize results. 



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