4th PCA Annual Convention- Dec. 25, 2020

Press Release:

4^TH PCA ANNUAL CONVENTION HOLDS ON DECEMBER 25, 2020

Venue: Central Primary School Amuzi

THEME: DRUG ABUSE, DREAMS DESTROYED

GUEST SPEAKER: IMO STATE NDLEA COMMANDANT

Theme Rationale: It is a common knowledge that illicit drugs use is now disturbingly prevalent in our community especially among our youths. This unhealthy and retrogressive habit while not unique to Amuzi carries devastating consequences for the individual, families and the community.

A recent survey led by Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Center for Research and Information on Substance Abuse with technical support from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and funding from the European Union, revealed a considerable level of use of psychoactive drug substances in nearly 15% of adult population in Nigeria. This translates to around 14.3 million people. This is a rate much higher than a 2016 reported global average of 5.6%.

It showed the highest levels of drug use was recorded among people aged between 25 to 39, with cannabis, followed by opium as the most widely abused drugs. The survey excluded the use of tobacoo and alcohol.

Other reports have revealed that drug use habits in Nigeria have devolved with young people increasingly resorting to potent mixtures of several drugs at the high risk of fatal overdoses. For instance, “gutter water,” a widely consumed cocktail of drugs, is a mix of codeine, tramadol, rohypnol, cannabis and water or juice. Some young adults are also turning to crude concoctions as alternatives, including smoking lizrd parts and dung as well as  sniffing glue, petrol, sewage and urine as inhalants.

While we may not have the mortality and morbidity statistics on drug abuse in Amuzi, report has it that about a quarter of all deaths in the United States–are caused by addictive substances: 105,000 from alcohol abuse, 446,000 from tobacco use, and 39,000 from addictive drugs in 1995. The US report also stated that “the magnitude of addiction’s impact on morbidity is also great, causing approximately 40 million illnesses and injuries each year. The economic burden of addiction is estimated at greater than $400 billion every year, including health care costs, lost worker productivity, and crime. Less quantifiable, but equally important, are the social costs to families and communities of addiction. Children of substance-abusing parents are more likely as adults to become plagued by addiction and its related problems”.

It is against this background that we have devoted the 2020 PCA Convention to begin to address mitigating measures against this devastating drug abuse scourge on our youths and community. Every of our youth has the potential for greatness, derailing or untimely death leaves our community with dreams unfulfilled.