'SUBSTANCE ABUSE CONTRIBUTES TO SPREAD OF HIV/AIDS'

Lagos --Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency ( NDLEA ), Alhaji Bello Lafiaji, has said that scientific and empirical evidence have shown that substance abuse contributes to the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Lafiaji noted that this happens through enhancement of risky sexual behaviours such as seeking gratification without due protection and sharing of unsterilised needles by drug users.

The NDLEA boss, who spoke through the Director-General of the Agency, Mr.  Dave Ashang, at a three-day workshop on drug abuse and HIV/AIDS prevention in Nigeria, urged Non-Govern-mental Organisations ( NGOs ) to join hands with the government in containing the havoc of the pandemic.

"This workshop is apt and timely, not only because of the scientifically proven relationship between drug abuse and HIV/AIDS, but also because these phenomena have indeed become a very serious threat.  The growing scepter of the HIV/AIDS pandemic currently affecting over 3.5 million people is ominous and a cause for concern", the chairman said.

He said the enormity of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the veracity of drug abuse and illicit trafficking required that all hands must be on deck if the menace must be tamed.

Earlier in his welcome address, the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime ( UNODC ), country representative, Mr Paul Salay, said the sensitisation workshop was organised from an intervention perspective for NGOs working with youth and other at-risk groups and agencies, focused especially on drug abuse and other risk-driven forms of behaviour.

Speaking through Mrs.  Bisi Aribi, a director with UNODC, Salay said: "Drug abuse as a whole, its impact on human behaviour and ultimately on fueling transmission of the Human Immuno Deficiency Virus ( HIV ), is a theme we need to factor strongly into HIV/AIDS policy-making, research, intervention and behaviour-change advocacy".

He said youth must be targeted with messages that substance abuse leads to high-risk behaviour which exposes people to HIV infection.

Also speaking at the forum, Mr.  Clement Aguiyi, president, Network of NGOs in Drug Demand Reduction in Nigeria, decried the ban on protein food items such as chicken and fish, while allowing the influx of all types of tobacco brands into the country.