.……Jack up fine for offenders to N2m
By Kemi Yesufu
The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed for second reading a bill which places a N2 million fine and a 2-year jail term for persons and firms in breach of the ban on tramadol and cough syrups containing codeine.
The Federal Government early this month announced a ban on the production and import of cough syrup containing codeine after a BBC documentary into its role in an addiction epidemic.
A health ministry spokesman told the BBC remaining stocks in shops could be sold with a prescription.
The bill which seeks to amend the Food, Drugs and Related Products ( Registration, etc) Act Cap. F33 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 to review the penalties and confer jurisdiction on High Court of the State to try offences under the Act, is sponsored by Rep. Betty Apiafi.
In her lead debate on the bill, Apiafi said between January and December 2015, 1044 patients were admitted for treatment in the 11 treatment centers currently part of Nigeria Epidemiological Network of Drug Use ( NENDU) reporting system and 28.3 percent of the patients had an opiate addiction.
She further explained that the opiates abused by the patients were mainly prescription medicines: tramadol (71 percent as 1st most frequently used substance), codeine (15.1 percent) and pentazocine (9.9 percent), heroine and morphine represented only 3.3 percent of opiates declared.
She added that since 2015, codeine has nearly overtaken tramadol as the most abused opiate in Nigeria. “Thousands of young people in Nigeria are addicted to Codeine cough syrup- a medicine that has become a street drug. Three million bottles are are drunk everyday in Nigeria’s North alone, according to a recent Nigerian government report”, she added.
The bill was referred to the House Committee on Healthcare Services after it was passed in a voice vote by majority of members in the floor.
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