Drug Abuse Victims Get First Rehab Centre
By. NDLEA Media Team.
It is no secret that the problem of drug abuse, especially KUSH, and its misuse in Sierra Leone has become a national security threat and concern that needs concerted efforts to address as a matter of urgency. This appalling situation has not gone unnoticed by the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), which is mandated by an act of Parliament to provide counseling and law enforcement.
During the visibility assessment tour by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and the Ministry of Social Welfare, to the proposed rehabilitation center at the police training school, Hastings, the Commandant in charge of the training facility, Asst. Commissioner of Police Allieu Jalloh, host the two very prominent players in the lead drug fight and rehabilitation to the ‘A’ Billet structure, where the team had a closer look at the facility and held discussions on mechanisms in place to help save the lives of youths dying on the streets due to the menace of drug prevalence in communities.
The Minister and the Executive Director are passionate about the welfare of youths, which is why they have started making plans to relocate vulnerable youths suffering on the streets of Freetown and other parts of the country to the first ever state rehabilitation facility to care, treat and reintegrate drug victims, as well as to give them a better life that will eventually make them useful citizens again. Also to restore the once lost hope in the youths by rehabilitating them and ensuring that they stay out of drugs and serve as ambassadors of change.
Commissioner Jalloh assured that the rehabilitation facility will be up and running in two weeks’ time, as plans are being put in place for the renovation, cleaning and all necessary items in place, because he believes this is a step in the right direction to putting smiles on the faces of parents whose children have taken to the use of this dangerous draconian drug. He also promised to make partitions for counseling, medical centre, canteen and recreational centres to keep the victims occupied.
According to the executive officer of NDLEA, Chief Andrew Jaiah Kaikai Esw. Young people are dying.
“We need a speedy and refocused strategy to see how young people are taken from the streets as a result of drug intake. But at the moment it is quite alarming,” he says.
Kush users seem to be everywhere in Sierra Leone, from the slums to well-heeled areas, sitting slumped with their heads lolling and sometimes sleeping while standing up, with wounds.
The Minister of Social Welfare, Madam Melrose Kaminty, also stated that, as a government they are worried with regards to the menace.
She further stressed that drug abuse and addiction have been part of youths in Sierra Leone’s existing social systems, affecting crime rates, hospitalizations, child abuse, and child neglect, frustration, insane, and disability, HIV /AIDS, Scabies and skin diseases, anaemia, pale in colour. Youths nowadays try various drugs so that they feel different from normal, Drug Abuse has become a fashion among youths nowadays, both boys and girls are greatly involved in this habit.
The delegation led by the Executive Director Chief Andrew Jaiah Kaikai, also visited the Transnational Organised Crime Unit (TOCU) headquarters, where he held meeting with heads of the TOCU management on the way forward, especially in relation to seized consignments (arrest and seizures cases), destruction of drugs in custody and to inspect the operational routines of the staff at the head office, Hastings. The Executive Director took a tour round the facility, inspected the seized consignments, and the destruction site for proper examination of the area for future destruction exercises, one which is to take place soon.
