Obasanjo wants drugs removed from crimes list

ormer President Olusegun Obasanjo has called
on West African governments to decriminalise
drugs.
He made this call as the West Africa Commission
on Drugs released a report entitled, ‘Not just in
transit: Drugs, the state and society in West
Africa’ this month.
“We call on West African governments to reform
drug laws and policies and decriminalise low-
level and non-violent drug offences,” Obasanjo,
who is the chairman of the commission, said.
In a statement released on Thursday, the drugs
commission said drug trafficking, consumption
and production in West Africa undermined
institutions, threatened public health and
damaged development efforts.
The statement said the scale of the cocaine
trade “alone through West Africa (estimated at
$1.25bn) dwarfs” the combined state budgets of
several countries in the region.
Speaking further, the former president of Nigeria
said, “West Africa is no longer just a transit zone
for drugs arriving from South America and ending
up in Europe, but has become a significant zone
of consumption and production.
“The glaring absence of treatment facilities for
drug users fuels the spread of disease and
exposes an entire generation, users and non-
users alike, to growing public health risks.”
Also, former Secretary-General to the United
Nations, Kofi Annan, emphasised the need to
decriminalise drugs in Nigeria and other West
African countries. According to him, making drug
use a serious crime not only stresses the judicial
system, but also worsens health and social
problems.
“Most governments’ reaction to simply
criminalise drug use without thinking about
prevention or access to treatment has not just
led to overcrowded jails, but also worsened
health and social problems,” Annan said.
Urging the governments to consider the report’s
recommendation, the President of the WACD,
Pedro Pires, said, “We need to gather the
required political will to go after the organised
traffickers while reforming outdated laws and
policies that no longer fit reality.
“We call on West African states to collaborate
and make common cause against a trade that
knows no borders.”
The WACD also asked for the support and
involvement of the civil society and the
international community.
A member of the commission, Edem Kodjo,
explained that most of the drugs smuggled into
West Africa came from South America.
He, therefore, called on South America and
Europe (the main consumer market) to “take the
lead to deal with both production and
consumption at home. We cannot solve this
problem alone; governments and civil society
have to come together in West Africa to help
prevent the drug problem from getting completely
out of hand.”
The report is the result of one and a half years of
engagement by the Commission with national,
regional and international parties, including the
African Union, the Economic Community of West
African States and the United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime.