The Member of Parliament (MP) for Arru County, Pader district, Christopher Komakech has urged Parliament to ensure that the use of Narcotics and Phychotropic substances is controlled citing that once one is addicted to these substances,the person can be treated but can not be cured. He compared this to diseases like HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis which are treated but are incurable.
He said this on Thursday, August 17, 2023, while in Parliament during the tabling of the Narcotics Drug Bill.
“Today we debate a bill that entails the life of Ugandans. We are debating about a bill that causes a disease that is incurable. Anyone who uses marijuana can not get treatment and be cured. I would rate an addiction as a patient who has HIV/Aids, or TB. We can treat these addicts but we can never cure them in anyway,” Komakech said.
He added that, the lives of youths in the country are at stake if the narcotics use is not controlled giving an example of when he was still working in Butabika Mental Hospital where a good number of youths were admitted due to drug addiction.
“Everyday in Butabika from experience I would work an 8 hour shift and would admit 20 youths who are Ugandans from use of marijuana and khat,” Komakech stated.
He added that, Butabika National Mental Hospital in Uganda is not allowed to admit anyone who is below the age of 18 years and is addicted to alcohol or marijuana. He wondered where these children are supposed to be admitted since Kampiringisa has no health workers to manage these children.
“So members I beg of you, addiction is a growing disease. You do not start with cannabis you start with a lower drug. They will start from kuba, they will start with shisha then they go on upgrading from level to level until when they hit rock bottom. As I speak, we have doctors who are admitted in mental institutions and certificates, their degrees are hanging,” Komakech noted.
The Woman MP for Butambala, Aisha Nalule Kabanda however, blamed mental illness on alcoholism, a vice that is not controlled in the country.
“All the things that have been blamed on Khat, I want to say alcohol causes them. Uganda is number one alcohol consumer in Africa. I have not seen this country say that we stop alcohol consumption because it has these effects,” Kabanda said.
The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance (Control) Bill, 2016 is aimed at controlling the possession and trafficking in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances and cultivation of certain plants.
The Speaker of Parliament, Annet Anita Among, on May 16, 2023, guided the Attorney General, Kiryowa Kiwanuka, to re-introduce the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Bill, 2016, following its annulment by the Constitutional Court on May 5, 2023, due to lack of quorum.
