ACPN Press Briefing: A Call to Action on Medicine Abuse

TEXT OF PRESS BRIEFING ON IMMEDIATE CLOSURE OF ALL OPEN DRUG MARKETS AND RESTRUCTURING OF THE CHAOTIC DRUG DISTRIBUTION IN NIGERIA BY THE NATIONAL CHAIRMAN OF ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY PHARMACISTS OF NIGERIA  (ACPN) PHARM (Dr.) ALKALI ALBERT KELONG, FPCPharm ON THURSDAY 3^RD MAY 2018.

For more than five years, the ACPN has been calling for the closure of Open Drug Market in this country to no avail. Currently there are too many unqualified participants in the drug distribution channel and the effects can be catastrophic. The chaoticDrug Distribution System has given room to charlatans, quacks and dubious individuals who have taken advantage of this system to carry out illicit trading in medicines that should be dispensed by or only under Pharmacists’ supervision. Some of these medicines include controlled medicines such as Codeine containing cough syrup, which has become one of the most abused drugs in the Pharmaceutical space as seen in the BBC documentary.

The drug industry has been seen by some individuals as a money making venture forgetting the fact that the aim of medicines use is to save lives. Providing medicines to the sick is not about selling a medicine, it is all about ensuring that the sick person gets the right drug at the right dose to achieve a healthy outcome. In a society where open drug markets exists drugs are sold indiscriminately to anybody. Another point of concern is the hazardous effect street medicine hawkers have on poor unsuspecting Nigerians. The Pharmacist as a custodian of medicines is accountable. Pharmacists are monitored through their controlled drug register that is subject to clinical auditing by regulatory agencies.