The co-founder and Executive Director of Creating Opportunities for Disadvantaged Persons (CODaP), a non-governmental organization engaged in raising public awareness in the fight against substance-drug abuse, has emphatically disclosed to Forum Newspaper that as much as health experts have made it clear that the coronavirus affect and destroy lungs, therefore, it is incumbent on all raising awareness to specifically tailor their messaging strategy targeting youth to ‘stay off drugs as part of ways of defeating the COVID19.
He enlightened that substance abuse has an adverse effect on the brain and lungs of the human body, and it is of apparent importance for youth to stay fit and be counted at the end of the day when the pandemic must have been over.
“Those who say that intense alcohol consumption would help in the fight against COVID-19, are making a grave mistake,” he advised.
Bangura therefore, called on state actors and humanitarian organizations to reach out at especially slums and ghetto communities who are yet to comprehend the full meaning of the coronavirus to ensure that substance-drugs abuse is discouraged.
He added that, research done by CODaP revealed that youth in substance abuse have barely enough food to live on and the consumption of such harmful substance have the tendency to destroy their lungs and clearly expose them to coronavirus attacks, and by which their immune system might be very weak to defend against.
In another development, Bangura called on Government to establish a rehabilitation facility to help victims of substance abuse which he considered as a very “essential facility” needed to discourage the usual referrals at the Kissy Mental Psychiatrist Hospital.
“Victims of substance abuse mostly frown at such a place because the name itself is associated with stigma,” he underscored.
