The foundation, made the call in a town hall engagement with relevant stakeholders in order to increase community support for PWUD with special focus on women on Saturday in Kaduna State,

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the engagement was part of activities lined up in commemoration of the 2024 World Drug Day which is held June 26 of every year.

The foundation emphasised the need for community support and acceptance, rather than condemnation, to help PWUD overcome their challenges.

The Programme Director of Thinkers Children Foundation, Mrs Itama Okhuelegbe, said the foundation tends to say no to stigmatisation with the theme “Evidence is clear: prevention is better than treatment”.

She added that the event, which aimed at sensitising the stakeholders, was to educate them on the fact that PWUD in the society among other people were also humans and needed not to be condemned.

Okhuelegbe, therefore, said PWUD need to be accepted and listened to, adding that most of them don’t trust people to talk to or don’t even have who to talk to.

According to her, women deal more with drugs due to situations that surround them like postpartum depression, among others where they feel the only way to help themselves is to go into drugs.

She lamented that a lot of girls were facing challenges which they can’t share with the feeling that using drugs is the only way to help them out.

Okhuelegbe said that many PWUD in the state don’t have knowledge on most of the centres supported by the Kaduna State Bureau for Substance Abuse (KADBUSA) where they could reach out to.

“Today, with this campaign, PWUD will know where to reach out to when they need who to talk to. Treatment is more expensive,” she said.

She thanked YouthRISE Nigeria for the support in mobilising people from the communities to talk about PWUD.

Also, the Director-General (DG) of KADBUSA, Joseph Ike, expressed the importance of being emphatic to PWUDs.

According to him, PWUD are people like everyone, so they should be treated with love and care.

Ike stressed that men and women are biologically different, saying women could be dependent on drugs within a shorter period than men.

He listed reasons for drug abuse to include:  To feel good, feel better, so better and be a part of a group.

Ike said that there were limited resources for the people in need to recover, hence the government had provided 115 dropping centres at the early stage and created more rehabilitation centres in four local governments within the Kaduna metropolis.

He expressed the hope that people realise choices that were generally benefiting them.

On his part, the representative of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Benjamin Stephen, lamented the widespread drug abuse across the state.

He said that NDLEA operatives have been stationed in strategic places to apprehend offenders, especially those trafficking and taken to court and prosecuted, if found wanting.

Also, the representative of the State Ministry of Human Services and Social Development, Helen Saiza, commended the foundation for complementing the work of the state government in tackling the issue of drug abuse in the state.

She explained that drug abuse, being a social problem, affects households and communities.

Saiza urged that  all hands must be on deck to tackle the issue so as to have a better community for all.

One of the stakeholders, the youth leader of Mando community, Mr Zakari Muhammad, stressed the importance of stakeholders engagement and the role of everybody in tackling the menace.

NAN reports that the event brought together stakeholders cutting across youths, women, political and religious leaders and commercial sex workers, among others.

They all agreed on the importance of empathy and support for PWUD, and commended the foundation for its efforts in tackling drug abuse in the state.

NAN reports that the event was aimed at increasing awareness and promoting evidence-based approaches to addressing drug abuse, with a focus on women.(NAN)