‘Tobacco is now mixed with illicit drugs’ — NDLEA vows to go after shisha smokers
Femi Babafemi, spokesperson of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), says the agency will no longer overlook shisha smokers especially as some persons mix the content with illicit drugs.
Babafemi said this yesterday during a Twitter Spaces conversation hosted by the NDLEA.
Shisha, which is a tobacco prepared for smoking through long pipes, isn’t prohibited in Nigeria, but is banned to persons below the age of 18.
“We have seen from recent arrests that people who sell shisha also mix some other substance into it like cannabis and some other drugs,” he said.
“We are going after them now so that you won’t say you don’t know because there is no ignorance in law. Please, mind the shisha you take.
“If we get to you and we test what is in that bottle that you are smoking and we discover that there is much more to it than ordinary tobacco, then you are violating the law. So, you could be arrested for that. Please let’s know that.
“We are after them because we have discovered that a lot of people now mix a lot of other things with the shisha.”
He also listed some commonly-abused drugs in Nigeria to include “rubber solution, tramadol and codeine”, adding that the agency is stepping up efforts to rid the country of such illicit drugs.