KANO— KANO NDLEA state commander , Alhaji Mohammed Malami Sokoto has said the major problem of drug abuse in the state is the excessive comsuption of the a local tea herbs called ‘Gadage’ by commercial motorists and motorcycle riders in the state, saying they have no legislation to arrest the abuse of such drugs. Speaking with Vanguard in an exclusive interview weekend, the NDLEA boss in Kano said that the Drug’Gadage’ which is consumed in form of tea contains one percent of THC9, but has serious effect on the nervous system and is also a kind of stimulant that give the user false stamina. Alhaji Malami explained that they cannot legislate on the use of the drug because the NDLEA decree of 1989 does not empower them to arrest or stop the use of such drugs, adding that there is no clear cut legislation of the agency on drug with such little percentage of THC9. His words: “We have a constraint on the consumption of the use of ‘Gadage’ in Kano state because NDLEA has no legislation to stop the use of such drugs under decree 1989 of the NDLEA.
And ‘Gadage’ has only one percent of THC9 which makes our case more complicated”.The Kano NDLEA boss then disclosed that they have solicited for the assistance of the state government, adding that he urged the government to use the state Assembly to enact an edict on the consumption of’Gadage’ in the state.
According to him, with the edict from the state House of Assembly, the command will be empowered to control the abuse of the drug in the state, and save cases of road accidents which are caused under the influence of the drug on the streets of Kano. Said he: “If we have a legislative backing from the state House of Assembly, we will be able to check-mate the excesses of the use of the drug which is sold openly on major streets of the state because we have no legislation to arrest the sellers”.
The NDLEA boss further hinted that the command also has logistics problems, said they don’t have vehicles to carry out most of the routine works in the state because the six vehicles they have are currently off the road.Alhaji Malami told Vanguard that the command’s problem started when the office was decentralized and the vehicles they had were shared among the new states commands, and the six they got became faulty with nofunds to maintain them.He lamented that the officers in the zones are compelled to use their own vehicles at most times to carry out their official duties in the state and its environs, and solicited for assistance from the state government to have their vehicles back on the roads. “We will perform better if we have vehicles to move around suspected areas where people smuggle thesedrugs into the state.
