The Kano State Government has set a target of taking 10,000 drug users off the streets and rehabilitating them within one year as part of a new strategy to tackle substance abuse and its links to violent crime.
The Chairman of the Kano State Multi-Joint Task Force on Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, Muhuyi Rimin-Gado, disclosed this on Saturday while outlining the government’s planned intervention for drug users, convicted offenders and vulnerable youths involved in substance abuse.
Rimin-Gado said the initiative would move beyond arrests and imprisonment by combining detoxification, rehabilitation, skills acquisition and economic empowerment to help former drug users reintegrate into society.
“Our goal is to take away 10,000 people from the streets within one year. This is a different approach from only taking them to prison. We are thinking about rehabilitation,” he said.
He explained that the process would begin with detoxification before beneficiaries were enrolled in rehabilitation programmes and equipped with skills that could make them economically productive.
