The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has outlined its reasons for proposing drug tests for students in tertiary institutions.
On Tuesday, NDLEA Director of Media and Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, who spoke on Channels Television’s Morning Brief, said that the agency is treating drugs as a public health issue and not a criminal offence
“We’re treating this as a public health issue, not a crime, let me quickly put that in perspective,” he said.
According to the NDLEA spokesman, students who test positive for hard drugs should receive the appropriate support to help them succeed while remaining in school.
“Whoever tests positive for drug use in that situation – that’s why we work with these institutions – we collaborate with them so that the people who test positive are not punished or expelled from the school, they are taken for treatment to win off these substances and also to get them reintegrated back to their classes, back to the academic pursuit.
“When they test positive, it is to detect early and bring support for them, perhaps some of these institutions have counselling and treatment centres, those that don’t have, we have 30 of our treatment counselling centres across the country and we have three more coming up in the next couple of weeks. All of these are provided for people to get support and treatment.
Babafemi also indicated that the agency is taking proactive steps to cater to the mental health of students facing drug-related issues.
“Apart from that, we also have a 24hr call centre where we have our mental health centres, counsellors, clinical psychologists, psychotherapists and psychiatrist doctors that provide these also, on the telephone we have our two free helplines that people can always call and get the needed support.
“All of these we provide to ensure that students are not just tested and left or abandoned, they also get support and even write on our test kit we have our two free helplines in the comfort of their home, call and get the needed support, guidance and get support for their loved ones that test positive.”