Checkmate Drug Abuse among Women, Sultan Charges Medical Practitioners

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa�ad Abubakar II, Friday challenged medical professionals to take proactive measures to checkmate the menace of drug abuse among women in the country.

The monarch made this known when the Yobe State Governor Ibrahim Geidam was bestowed with an honorary membership of the Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria (SOGON) at its 51st Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference held in Sokoto.

�I am challenging members of SOGON and other medical professionals to use their good offices as healthcare givers to checkmate the menace of drug abuse by our women especially the married ones.The Sultan, who decried the rising cases of drug abuse among married women in the North saying all hands must be on deck to tackle the problem, added that as healthcare givers, there is need for medical professionals to take proactive measures in checkmating drug abuse by restricting patients� access to cough syrup.

�How do we partner with your association to checkmate this ugly trend? Can we ban the production of cough syrups or can we do without them? I think this is something you have to look into as you round up this conference.

�I think there is need for restriction in the procurement of these cough syrups by stopping people from going to chemist to buy them,� the monarch said.