Lets face it, those close to us abuse drugs

Today September 27,2015 I was invited to this stakeholder meeting and open session organised by the Joint Action Committee On Anti Drug and Substance Abuse at American Corner of Murtala Muhammed Library Kano.It was in honour of Celebration of National Peace Day.
The theme was 'Sensitisation Campaign on Drug and Substance Abuse'.  September 2015.

On the high table were leaders of various Non Governmental Organisations.

Those in attendance made lots of suggestions in Hausa and in English.
I was opportuned to make a speech:
Good morning everyone.
I am delighted to be here as a stakeholder and as a medical practitioner.
The substance and drug abuse indices for Kano state are very high. It is abysmal and we in Kano are the only ones who can change the status quo.
Whether we like it or not,we are all related to substance abusers.
Let me talk to the mothers first because the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.
For every mother present, if you have a child who leaves for school daily, be sure you check the child's bag every day. Check hidden sections of the bag.Look our for crevices, strangely sewn up sections,places cut open with razor blade. You may just find a stash there.
The manifestations of drug and substance abuse are protean and a multipronged approach should be use to prevent and tackle it.
From experience, drug and substance abuse is a chronic disease. It has to be managed for life in many cases. Rehabilitation for these group of people is so expensive

So let us focus on generationext. By this i mean the group of youngsters who have not been exposed to drug and substance abuse.
Drug and substance abuse is a problem of peers groups. It is not about a mother telling her child not to do drugs.
Let us target them through social media. Lately our youth have disappeared from Facebook as they started seeing their parents,uncles,aunties and grandparents on face book. They have gone to watsapp ,2go,twitter and others.
We can create sensitisation campaign platforms using watsapp,2go,twitter to reach our youngsters. These campaigns should be in English, Hausa and Arabic.

There should be a collaboration with popular Hausa musicians to produce world standard hausa songs sensitising our communities on drug and substance abuse. Most songs I learnt as a youngster are still imprinted in my memory till date. Do you all agree that is happens to you too?(A chorused YES and applause echoed)

Lastly, we should produce short movies in partnership with well loved KANNYWOOD actors and actresses. I can write beautiful scripts for story lines. These short movies will be aimed at the local hausawa family who watches KANNYWOOD, AREWA, etc. They will also be aimed at the local woman who stays at home and cannot figure out tell tale signs of drug abuse in her child. When she sees these movies she would be better informed, empowered and better positioned to battle drug and substance abuse in her own territory. We could also in partnership with animation companies design and produce cartoons in hausa or get already made cartoons and translate to Hausa.
We must win against the destruction of the Nigerian youth by drug and substance abuse.
Thank you

Dr Dileem says 'God bless Nigeria'

Dr Dileem

The Likita Bokanturai

Kano Nigeria

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