Reps ask NAFDAC to ban sales and dispensing of codeine across counter nationwide
- Members of the House of Representatives have called on NAFDAC to ban use of codeine in the country
- The reps said codeine should be banned as it causes breathing disorder, asthma, kidney disease, among others
- Honourable Abdulsamad Dasuki (APC Sokoto) said the number of bottles of codeine consumed in Kano and Jigawa states is about 3 million
The House of Representatives at plenary on Thursday, December 21, asked the National Agency for Food, Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to immediately place a ban on the dispensing and sales of codeine across the counter nationwide.
Vanguard reports that the reps took the decision following the high rates of cases of drug abuse in some parts of the country.
The House further told the agency to ensure that the drug was sold on prescription.
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Legit.ng gathered that the reps made the decision after the consideration and adoption of a motion under matters of urgent public importance sponsored by Abdulsamad Dasuki.
Dasuki urged NAFDAC and other health providers to create a central database where prescription data could be logged in to help detect drug addicts and over prescription.
He condemned the high rates of drug abuse among Nigerian youths and called on government and other stakeholders in the health sector to organize public awareness on the dangers of drug abuse.
According to Dasuki, the number of bottles of codeine consumed in Kano and Jigawa states is about 3 million.
“If this number is consumed in just two states of the 19 Northern states, when the figures of the other 17 states are added, it would be catastrophic,” he said.
He stated that codeine, which is also known as 3 methyl morphine, causes breathing disorder, asthma, kidney disease, among others.
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Dasuki concluded by urging NAFDAC to checkmate and punish medical doctors and other health experts who abused drugs.
Legit.ng previously reported that Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto state on Tuesday, December 19, called on the federal government to totally ban Codeine syrups in the country.
Tambuwal made the call while speaking at a Senate Roundtable on medicine abuse held in Kano.
The two-day programme was organised by the Senate as part of the measures to address the medicine use crisis in the country with a view to finding a lasting solution to it.
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Source: Legit.ng
