 or still on the United Nations International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Christ, against Drug Abuse Ministry, organized a walk in Lagos to sensitize people on the dangers of drug abuse. Clause TV Africa's Destiny Momo was there. The theme for this year's International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is, Share Facts on Drugs and Save Lives. The recent World Drug Report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime states that 271 million people aged between 15 and 64 years abused drugs in 2019. That is about 5.5 percent of the global population. For the Christ Against Drug Abuse Ministry, it is a time to take a walk and create awareness on the negative effects of drug abuse. It's even gone higher. The country representative of UNODC said it's getting close to 20 million. So you can begin to understand the trend, the increasing trend across the world, particularly in Nigeria in age 15 to 64, of people doing drugs. And the prevalence is between ages 25 and 39, which is the economic belt of any nation. And so we need to worry about this and we need to do something. We have found out that a lot of people actually go into drugs because they don't know the implication of what they are doing. They don't know the after effect. So we feel that since there are not many organizations that would treat the drug user, it's better to prevent as many people as possible from going into drugs. Yes, I've actually been down that road before, so I know what it feels like and I know what it means to have a problem. You cannot tell anybody or maybe your family member doesn't know who to turn to. The main factor is drugs kill you. It's something that you can't start it easily but to stop it is actually a problem. On the recent move by the UNDO state governor, Akere Dulu, to legalize cannabis for economic reasons. Here are their thoughts. The fact that cannabis should not be legalized. For somebody like me that have been down that road, he started with cigarette and cannabis but ended up becoming a crack cocaine and heroin addict. Cannabis is always the gateway. And if you go to psychiatric hospitals, 70% of the people there that have psychosis is being induced by marijuana. So we're just going to have a lot of mad people on our streets. And I agree entirely with General Bubermawad that we cannot even contemplate it. We can control ordinary paracetamol. The use of all these basic drugs, how then do you want to control the use of marijuana? The boarding of drug abuse is on the rise and becoming a public health concern in Nigeria. Studies show drug abuse fuels criminal activities like theft, burglary and shoplifting. Abuse of drugs can also lead to mental health problems and death. The United Nations say there were at least 585 such deaths in 2019. Destiny Momo for Plus TV Africa.