Reps propose N2m fine, jail-term for Tramadol, Codeine abuse

The House of Representatives on Tuesday, passed for second reading an amendment bill proposing a N2million fine and a two -year jail term for offenders of the ban on Tramadol and Codeine.

The bill which seeks to amend the Food, Drugs and Related Products (Registration, etc) Act, 2004, seeks to review the penalties that can imposed on offenders and confer jurisdiction on state high courts to try offences under the Act.

Sponsor of the amendment, Hon Betty Apiafi (PDP, Rivers) in her lead debate, said that between January and December 2015, an estimated 1, 044 patients were admitted for treatment in the 11 treatment centers that currently form part of the e -Nigeria Epidemiological Network of Drug Use ( NENDU) reporting system.

She stated that “28.3 per cent of the patients had an opiate addiction and the opiates were mainly prescription medicines.

She said, “Tramadol represented 71 per cent as first most frequently used substance, Codeine (15.1 per cent) and Pentazocine (9.9 per cent), while heroin and morphine represented only 3.3 per cent of opiates.

“Since 2015, Codeine has nearly overtaken Tramadol as the most abused opiate in Nigeria. Thousands of young people in Nigeria are addicted to Codeine cough syrup, a medicine that has become a street drug. Three million bottles are are drunk everyday in Nigeria’s North alone, according to a recent government report..”

She also stated that the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated in 2011, that 64 per cent of anti -malarial drugs in the country were found to be counterfeit, adding that “it is assessed that counterfeit drugs provided approximately $75 billion in revenue annually to illegal operators and have caused more than 150,000 deaths worldwide.

“We legislators must also do our part in this war against commercialisation of illegal unregistered food and drugs.”

According to the lawmaker, Sections 6, 7, 9 and 13 of the Principal Act were amended in the new bill, declaring that the extant law enacted 25 years ago and had never been amended.

The amendments to the bill stipulates penalties for individuals up to the tune of N500,000 or a prison term of two years or both; and in the case of a corporate body, all the directors, managers. partners, trustees, would be guilty of an offence and would be punished as it they had committed the offence themselves.

The amendment bill was thereafter referred to the House committee on Healthcare Services for further legislative action.