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Abigail, a 25 year old girl resident in the FCT recounted how she was raped by some policemen on the account that she admitted to the use of illicit drugs. In order for her not to get arrested she was made to pay with her body. In her words ‘They forcefully climbed me to make love with me, so I was begging that it will just be one person but they refused and took turns to have sex with me, my body was violated’. Abigail’s case is just one out of the many cases of human right abuse that young people who use drugs do experience in the hand of law enforcement officers.Someone may want to ask, do drug users have any human right? Don’t they deserve whatever punishment they receive? This and many similar questions explained why human right abuse of this group have been normalised in our society and beclouded a need for us to confront the growing challenge of drug misuse with humane and evidence-based strategy. Recently, YouthRISE Nigeria, a Non-Governmental organisation with support of Open Society Institute of West Africa (OSIWA) presented an evidence-based report on documented cases of human right abuse experienced by young people who use drugs in Nigeria. The story of Abigail was one of the cases. Other cases include arbitrary and prolonged arrest, denial of access to justice, extortion, being beaten, getting locked up without food for days, sexual harassment, rape, forced rehabilitation and use of severe torture to make people drug free. The perpetrators of these abuse are not limited to law enforcement officers but included family members, religious centres and many more.
The challenge of drug use in our society today is a reality among the youths who use drugs for one reasons or the other inclusive of escaping the harsh economic problem such as unemployment, poverty and homelessness.Young people constitute about 60 per cent of Nigeria population and it is important to take issues that affect them very serious.
The YouthRISE reportclearly showed Nigeria drug policy to be reactive to both internal and external pressures instead of being a proactive tool based on evidence of what works and what does not. While drug traffickers are criminals, it is out of place to treat drug users who are at the receiving end like criminals. The understanding of drug dependence should also make us to rethink that drug users are supposed to be referred to treatment and help centres and not getting locked up in prison asylums or police and NDLEA custody. Even though, it could have been said that these individuals broke the law, there fundamental human rights and dignity should be upheld.Moreover, drug use is a non-violent offence and locking people up because they use drugs is not really justifiable. This also contributes to over congestions of Nigeria prisons and detention centres. The findings from the report showed that some of the young people who were locked up for just using drugs became worse or hardened after getting out of the custody.
In conclusion, this topic is rarely discussed but it’s a growing challenge in Nigeria and like a time bomb among the youth. The continuous use of punishment and force to address drug use seems counter-productive.While the Nigeria drug law could be said to have been developed with good intentions, the unintended consequences resulting from its implementation calls for an urgent review especially for the protection and holistic development of the youth population who have already initiated drug use. While law enforcement is still needed, it should be targeted at the traffickers and those who deal in illicit drugs. The users should be given required support and not punishment.
