Pharmacists demand closure of open drug markets to check drug abuse

As part of efforts to check the increasing cases of drug abuse in the country, especially among youths, pharmacists under the aegis of Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) Lagos State Branch,have called on the federal government to close down all open drug markets in the country.

They say the closure had become necessary to tackle the menace of drug abuse, insisting that failure to do so, would further aggravate the situation.

The pharmacists made the call at the 2018 Annual General Meeting of the assocition in Lagos recently,where its Chairman, Pharm. Abiola Paul -Ozieh, also urged the federal government to keep to the December deadline for closing all open drug markets.

She said, “ As long as we have the open drug market places, as long as people walk into anywhere, hawk drugs, we will always have issues with drug abuse.

“As stakeholders , we shall work with government to get rid of uncoordinated system of drug distribution and install a sane distribution system where people can get drugs that are documented and can even be traced to the last user .

“We have taken the war against drug abuse to communities across Lagos and have erected banners there to warn youths of the dangers of such acts .
“Those that need help , we will link them to facilities where they will undergo rehabilitation procedures and that way , they will be reintegrated back to the society .”

Also speaking, Chairman of ACPN ’ s Board of Trustees in Lagos , Pharm. Deji Osinoke, called on law enforcement agencies and drug regulators to sanitise the system and ensure that only trained and registered people handles drugs.

END