Music Industry Glamourizes Drugs – Benjamin Hundeyin

SP Benjamin Hundeyin, the spokesperson for the Lagos State Police Command, stated that the prevalence of substance misuse in the music industry has made enforcement more difficult because the industry has repeatedly glamorized drug use over the years.

On Thursday, September 28, the police spokesperson made this claim during the 2023 Press Week Lecture/Symposium, which was hosted by the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in collaboration with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Lagos Chapter.

“The music industry is not helping us in any way. They glamorize drugs. Not all that glitters is gold.” he said while urging the elderly Nigerians to join in the fight against drug abuse.

He claimed that many celebrities are addicted to drugs. According to him, when musicians have health problems, they prefer not to go to the hospital and instead invite a nurse to treat them at home since they use drugs.

“Going to the hospital will expose that and they don’t want people to know.” he said.

According to him, the majority of societal crimes are the result of substance misuse or drug addiction among teenagers. He stated that the command regularly captures criminals around the state, and that in 90% of the cases, the criminals blame their acts on drugs.

“Drugs and their attendant problems are things that manifest in the society. We all know that there is a direct connection between drugs and crimes. For us in the Lagos State Police Command, we have come to realise that the more there is drug use in the society, the higher the crime rate is. If drugs actually reduce in the society, crimes too will reduce. Ordinarily, people would not go and commit crimes until they use drugs,” he said.

He stated that, in addition to crimes, drug misuse jeopardizes the health and future of Nigerian youths.

In terms of the future, the PPRO stated that the media and other stakeholders must play a significant role in illustrating the hazards and challenges of drugs in society. He bemoaned the fact that seniors, who should be moral guardians, had been caught on multiple times for peddling illegal narcotics.

“It is painful when elderly parents come to beg for their children arrested for drugs. Encouraging drug use will not help anyone. Elderly ones should be our mouthpiece. It is bad that elderly people are making this problem worse. We need to expose this. Our borders are quite porous, people bring in things, illicit drugs inclusive. The more we make noise about it, the better” he said.