Taking drug war to campuses

The novel idea of establishing units of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, on the campuses of tertiary institutions of learning is a commendable one. We wonder how no one had thought of it before now.

The NDLEA’s Chairman/Chief Executive, retired Brigadier-General Buba Marwa, has a track record of result-oriented public service which was noticed way back in the late 1990s when he was the Military Administrator of Lagos.

Marwa called for the enforcement of “drug integrity tests” on new and old students in order to reduce the hard drug menace among the youth, while launching the “drug-free university campaign” at the University of Abuja recently.

The test is aimed at eventually transforming into an anti-drug policy for all higher institutions of learning. It will also involve establishing units of the NDLEA on all campuses to tackle the drug menace at source.

This initiative is welcome. Universities and other tertiary institutions are places where young ones from tightly-regulated secondary school environments begin to experience relative freedom of action.

Most of them are still in their teenage years. Initiation into drug abuse is one of the new experiences they are exposed to. The anti-drug policy, if implemented, will help to boost the war against drug abuse both within campuses and in the larger society. The policy should have multifaceted dimensions.

If drug users know that the system will be sympathetic and ready to rehabilitate them without rustication, many will be willing to cooperate and receive care.

More importantly, the NDLEA on campuses should dwell heavily on public enlightenment. Students, staff and social activist groups should be encouraged to form volunteer groups for massive public enlightenment activities.

Sensitisation will help in preventing undue experimentation among students. It will also help them to keep away from cults which depend heavily on drugs for their antisocial pastimes.

We hope the NDLEA can afford the staff strength to operate this policy on campuses when put in place. We also hope that the government will be willing to make the necessary investments in the care aspect of the policy which will involve a myriad of healthcare specialists.

The war against drugs on campuses will help in minimising the spate of violent crimes that youths are involved in, such as terrorism, violent separatism, cultism, militancy and political thuggery.

It will help to ensure speedy justice for those involved in the criminality. The time to start is now.