The United Nation office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) has denied reports that the organization called for the decriminalization of Cannabis in Nigeria.
The officer in charge of UNODC in Nigeria, Elisabeth Bayer made the clarification in a statement issued in Abuja on reports about the organisation’s visit to Senate Committee on Drugs and Narcotics, Abuja at which it made a presentation at the public hearing on ‘The need to check the rising menace of pharmaceutical drugs abuse amongst youth in Nigeria’ on 26 March, 2018.
“On being asked specifically on cannabis, our representative clearly stated that legalization of Cannabis is not supported by the three UN international drug conventions (Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, 1961 as amended by the 1972 Protocol; Convention on Psychotropic Substances, 1971; UN convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances 1988).
“To keep the record straight, on invitation by the Senate Committee on Drugs and Narcotics, UNODC made a presentation at the public hearing and reiterated the following recommendations contained in 2017 International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) report, where the Board urges all Governments to:
(a) Gather data on prevalence of drug-use disorders and the accessibility and utilization of treatment;
(b) Invest in making treatment and rehabilitation evidence-based;
(c) Allocate sufficient resources to treatment and rehabilitation, the two major components of demand reduction;
(d) Pay particular attention to special population groups;
(e) Share, nationally and internationally, best practices and build capacity;
(f) Stimulate research into new interventions.