Oftentimes when we talk about drug control in Africa, the common narratives are that of criminality, arrests and seizures of illicit drugs. Then next, we think about how to increase sanctions to deter drug trafficking and stigmatise those who use any illicit drugs.
Securing our borders and ensuring drug traffickers pay for their crime is indeed very important, however, for far too long, we have paid less attention to the human cost of drug use. Recently, I asked a group of young people in Abuja who had travelled from the North, West, South and Eastern parts of Nigeria whether drug use is reducing or increasing in their various neighbourhoods. The answer was unanimous- “Increasing!”. They are obviously not lying, and the answer is what we can all see in our communities. The many years of the war on drugs in Nigeria and across many African countries have not led to drug use abating while the human cost is also not yet fully quantified.
In 2014, the West Africa Commission on Drugs led by the Former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, launched a report “Not just in Transit: Drugs, State and Society in West Africa”. A report that detailed the reality of illicit drug trade, increasing consumption and health related challenges among the burgeoning population of West African countries. The report emphasised the need for national laws to evolve from the prevailing “war on Drugs” to a pragmatic approach that consider the realities of drug use in our communities.
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More than ever before, we are seeing how drug laws disproportionately affect the most vulnerable in our society. In Nigeria, our drug law does not differentiate between people who traffic drugs and those who use drugs with the NDLEA Act (2004) prescribing minimum of 15 years and maximum of 25 years’ imprisonments for people caught using illicit drugs. While the national policies have evolved with less emphasis on prosecuting people who use drugs, the general principle of using the criminal justice system and law enforcement to address a public health problem persists. This has led to series of human rights violation of people who use drugs, incessant arrests, extortions, limited treatment and rehabilitation facilities and reduced government funding for health and harm reduction programs which are proven public health interventions approved by the World Health Organization. Year after year we celebrate arrests and seizures of drugs and crack down on organised crimes which are very much commendable, the human cost of paying less attention to the other side of the response where health and development ought to be the centre of our response to drug control among both young and adults who use drugs is becoming too difficult to ignore. A nation where over 14.3 million people are using illicit drugs, according to 2019 survey; and where HIV prevalence among people who inject drugs increased from 4.4% to 10.9% based on 2020 national survey do not need a further debate to discontinue the narrow fixation on law enforcement to manage a public health need.
Drug control response in Nigeria and Africa should embrace a developmental approach. Africa’s drug-control response requires developmental justice rather than continuing the conventional “war on drugs”. Punitive enforcement alone does not address the conditions that shape vulnerability. Experts have documented how poverty, exclusion, stigma and limited access to health care have aggravated the impact of drug use on individuals and communities. Poverty brings food insecurity and stress; unemployment brings economic insecurity, and limited schooling means less knowledge of risk and fewer routes to help. In a survey on drug use disorders, including alcohol and drug use disorders, conducted in twenty six countries, only 1.0% of affected people in low & lower-middle-income countries received minimally adequate treatment, compared with 10.3% in high-income countries. A developmental-justice approach would combine proportionate law enforcement with prevention, harm reduction, treatment, social protection and meaningful participation by affected communities. It would distribute responsibilities and resources fairly, while protecting health, dignity and future of our youths.
As member states gather in Luanda, Angola from the 15th-16th of November to discuss and adopt the next African Union Plan of Action on Drug Control, leaders need to look beyond the rhetorics of the war on drugs. There is need for a plan that no longer justify punishment as a response for an issue that require public health experts to manage. Policy makers need to hold themselves accountable and tell themselves the truth that the war on drugs as a response for drug use is completely a failure. National response needs to invest in public health interventions by focusing on evidence-based prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, harm reduction and community development. Legal frameworks and political actions cannot continue to neglect the root causes of the rising tide of drug use and the impact on health and community development. The evidence is clear. What we need now is the political will to act on what we already know. This is when real change will happen, and we hope this new plan of action will be robust enough and be the needed catalyst for member states.
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* Dr. Adeolu Adebiyi is Member West Africa Commission on Drugs.