PSN shuts down 50 illegal medicine stores in Kogi
Story from Rabi’atu, Lokoja
Over 50 illegal medicines stores have been shut down by the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) in Kogi State.
The State Chairman of PSN, Dr Lawal Muhammed, disclosed this while speaking at the 2022 International Day Against Drug Abuse, Illicit Trafficking event in Lokoja.
He said the circulation of hard and sub-standard drugs in Kogi State by quack medicine store owners, has become very worrisome, and if not quickly checked can pose a great danger to the already fragile security state of the country.
Dr Muhammed said recent findings by the association revealed that school dropouts, individuals who lost their jobs from different fields had ventured into drug businesses in the state because they see the sale of drugs as a way of making quick money.
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He noted that the association is still in the process of clamping down on more illegal medical stores and premises adding that, anyone caught will face the full wrath of the law.
“Drugs are being made available, easily, especially the controlled drugs. These days everybody goes into the drug business irrespective of who they are. It is amazing to hear that recently, a woman had issues in her matrimonial home, was separated, and later became a single mother. The next thing we saw was that she now owns a medical store without any qualification to back it.
“They now see the drug business as a means to survive. Somebody has lost his job, the next thing is to start selling drugs. If somebody is not doing well in the business he or she is doing, the next thing is to go into the drug-selling business. Drugs are not commodities you trade on, they are there to render solutions to health problems and must be handled by professionals who have indebt knowledge about it“.
The pharmacist also lamented that patent medical dealers have failed to stuck drugs in line with the acceptable guidelines in the country.
Muhammed said, ”They have their guidelines, there are categories of drugs they are supposed to store, but because they are desperate to make money, you will see them storing all manners of drugs. When the regulatory agency begins to clamp down on them, they will start coming out with the sentiment that we are witch-hunting them.
The chairman identified drug distribution as one of the problems negating the fight against drug abuse in Nigeria, adding that many drugs have been sold to unauthorised medicine stores in the country.
According to him, manufacturers and importers are also part of the problem because they give out drugs to company representatives to help them market and distribute. But because the representatives are under pressure, they do otherwise.
“Their representatives are usually given targets to sell their drugs. They are expected to make millions of naira for the manufacturer within a specific time and because they are under pressure, they don’t mind where they drop these drugs”.
According to him, banditry, kidnapping, and armed robbery could be traced to illicit drug use, stressing that, many individuals in Kogi State and Nigeria, in general, have access to all manners of drugs.
“Everybody carries all calibers of drugs. Why won’t there be crisis? Why won’t there be insecurity? all this banditry, kidnapping, raping, insurgency, armed robbery attacks, and many more are because anybody can have access to all manners of drugs” he added.
He, however, called on the National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA), Nigeria Police, Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria (PCN), National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), and security agencies to intensify efforts toward checkmating the menace of drug abuse in the society.
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