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Africa: Marijuana "Tries to Destroy Our Society," Nigerian Head Narc Says

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #519)
Consequences of Prohibition
Politics & Advocacy

Ahmadu Giade, head of Nigeria's National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), used a ceremony where seized marijuana was burned last weekend to declare war on pot as part of his agency's effort to "provide a drug-free society for all." His comments came as 100,000 pounds of what Nigerians commonly refer to as Indian hemp went up in smoke. The ceremonial burning would "spite drug barons" and demonstrate the superiority of law enforcement over drug dealers, he said.

While the Lagos newspaper The Day, which reported on the event, described the drugs as "narcotics" and "hard drugs," it appears that it was really describing Nigerian-grown marijuana.

Head narc Giade suffered from the same terminological confusion. "The threat of narcotic drugs is palpable," he said. "It is difficult to ignore this peril staring at us in the face. Cannabis control constitutes the biggest drug challenge in Nigeria and Africa. This is because it grows effortlessly in the country. This drug has the propensity to destroy our society but we equally have the capacity to subdue it."

Well, not so far, anyway. According to the US State Department's 2007 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, "Sale and local consumption of marijuana is on the increase. The rise in marijuana use domestically in Nigeria is evinced by the increased quantities seized, the number and size of illicit plots discovered and destroyed, and numbers of arrests made."

Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Comments

mlang52 (not verified)

And what happens when the drug barrons realize they can do it like Mexico. When they hire a bunch of well armed militia, the military and government control in the country will go right out the door. They cannot stop it at the end of a barrel of a gun! They will just create more violence! But who cares about a few more dead African peasants, anyway?

Fri, 01/18/2008 - 1:02pm Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

Drug warriors and prohibitionist nazi's need to be stopped world-wide and punished severly so this insanity never creeps into society again. I'm talking incarceration, hard labor, and even beheadings. Once we get the ball rolling maybe they'll get a life of their own instead of ruining others.

Sat, 01/19/2008 - 2:17am Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

Does this mean Nigeria is also declaring war on Merck and Pfizer, or is it the same "just-say-no-except-for-these-drugs" propoganda? Shame on the hypocrisy, which this piece shows is not just monopolized by the U.S. status quo.

EJ Hurst II
Attorney at Law
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550M Ritchie Highway
Severna Park, Maryland 21146
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Sat, 01/19/2008 - 11:18am Permalink

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