Five people are jailed on an annual basis in Rwanda over crimes that have a close connection with drug dealing or abuse, the official source has reported.
Briefing the media on the level of drug abuse in Rwanda this week, the Vice President for Interministerial for Drug Prevention in the Ministry of Justice said the jailed personnel are categorically the crime offenders who commit crimes under influence of alcohol or other drugs.
The law enforcers say they are always tolerant while enforcing the laws to wrongdoers particularly drug abusers until the offender crosses the line and engages in commissions of crimes or engage in other violations.
“Primarily, the people who have been caught abusing drugs are advisably rehabilitated in the rehabilitation centers. However, there are limits for these. You cannot take for granted someone who has physically insulted another,” Valence Buhura Ntukanyagwe, the Vice President for Interministerial for Drug Prevention in the Ministry of Justice disclosed to the media.
Buhura further warned of the dangers associated with drug addiction as an advanced stage of drug overuse describing it as ‘a critical point for the drug abusers’.
“It’s hard to change someone in an advanced stage of drug addiction and to completely turn him or her on at this stage is a bit harder”.
He believes the primary preventive mechanism is to gather efforts with health agencies and stakeholders in various ways.
The Rwanda Mental Health survey conducted in seven districts indicated that 56.5% people have ever used drugs in their lifetime in Rwanda and that 15.4% were binge drinking.
The same statistics also found out a total of 4,530 cases that have a close link with drug abuse were filed by the prosecution in the year 2023. Also, the prosecution had filed a total of 5,291 cases that had a close connection with drug abuse a year before (2022). One official source further disclosed that the majority of these drugs who enter the country illegally come from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi.
There are currently three major rehabilitation centers including Iwawa center, Gitagata and Nyamagabe Rehabilitation Center whereby the drug abusers are domiciled for three months before they are released back into normal life.
In 2020, Rwanda’s parliament legalized the farming of the medical Cannabis to which will be purposely used for the medicinal purposes in drug industries. The multi-billion project run by Rwanda Development Board in collaboration with King Kong Organics, a subsidiary of KKOG Global has invested $ 10 million [approximately Rwf 12.8 billion to kick start the industry in Rwanda. (End)