The Kano State Government has commenced plans to establish a rapid response centre and take at least 10,000 drug users off the streets for rehabilitation within one year as part of efforts to tackle drug abuse and its links to violent crime.

The Chairman of the Kano State Multi-Agency Taskforce on Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, Muhuyi Rimin-Gado, disclosed this during a media parley with journalists in Kano.

He said the initiative marked a shift from an approach focused mainly on arrest and prosecution to one that combines enforcement with detoxification, rehabilitation, skills acquisition and economic empowerment.

According to him, the taskforce, with the support of the state government, is planning to establish business clusters where rehabilitated drug users will acquire vocational and entrepreneurial skills and subsequently become productive members of 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.

“We are planning to set up clusters to engage them in skills acquisition and entrepreneurship programmes. This is aimed at making them productive in society,” he said.

Rimin-Gado said beneficiaries would be trained in various trades, including tailoring, shoemaking, garment production and other forms of craftsmanship, adding that the programme would be expanded to accommodate other trades and services.

“We are going to employ a mechanism where we will give training, including different kinds of craftsmanship that they would engage in,” he said.

The taskforce chairman said the intervention was also designed to address the relationship between drug abuse, unemployment and violent crime, particularly gun-related violence involving youths.

He explained that the taskforce’s operations were not intended merely to punish drug users but to remove them from harmful environments and provide them with opportunities to recover and rebuild their lives.

“If you look at our operations, when going after these youths, it is not because we hate them or do not want them. It is because we want them rehabilitated,” he said.

Rimin-Gado added that the rehabilitation initiative would also help reduce pressure on correctional facilities by providing alternatives to imprisonment for drug users who require treatment and reintegration into society.

He said the taskforce would continue to work with relevant government agencies and stakeholders to strengthen the fight against drug abuse and illicit trafficking across the state. (Weekend Trust)