Dr Colette Taka Joro “The fight against drugs is multi-sectoral”.

The Permanent Secretary of the National Anti-Drug Committee (CNLD), the 2024-2030 National Plan to Combat Drugs was adopted on 4 July 2024. As far as implementation is concerned, several structures within the Ministry of  Public Health will be supporting the National Anti-Drug Committee, in particular its 6 committees, the multisectoral anti-tobacco Commission and the Centre for Addiction Care, Support and Prevention.

The 2024-2030 National Plan to Combat Drugs was adopted on 4 July 2024. Is this the end of drug use and abuse in our country?

Let’s just say that the strategic plan to combat drugs has been adopted and is the start of the fight. This strategic plan is our compass for implementing the various strategies.

This tool for coordinating the fight against drugs, if I’m not mistaken, was the most important project of 2023, following the instructions of the Head of State to his government in his speeches to young people on 10 February 2019 and 2020.

We’re really not behind schedule, because as you know, the fight against drugs is a multisectoral one. It’s not just MINSANTE.  So it involves several structures at national level. Putting these structures in place, bringing them together and coordinating them, could only take time. And really, thank God, we were able to validate this plan.

What is the priority action plan for each administration and other non-state partners to make it more cost-effective?

We have an implementation, monitoring and evaluation mechanism, as well as a mechanism for financing the plan. As far as implementation is concerned, we have several structures at the level of the Ministry of Health, in particular the Drug Control Committee with its 6 committees. We also have the multisectoral anti-smoking Commission and our Centre for Addiction Care and Prevention.

And, in terms of response, how are your various addiction centres faring?

Generally speaking, the centres are doing well and are up and running. We are also encountering some difficulties, but generally speaking, we are receiving more and more patients and we also have a lot of data on drugs in general.

So you go in a drug addict and you come out a saint?

Yes, you go in a drug addict and you come out a saint. It’s true that there are several phases and it’s very complicated. That’s why we’re advising people, especially young people, not to start taking drugs, because once you do, you can probably get away with it, but you have to take time to try and understand the patient’s behaviour so that you can take better care of them.

In this fight against drugs and other issues, does the regulatory framework really make your job easier?

The regulatory framework exists, but we believe that reform is needed to better implement the various strategies listed in the strategic plan.

Cameroon has long been a transit country and is now a place where even drugs are grown and manufactured. Is the repression that has been practised so far the right solution?

Repression is not always the best solution because, you see, on one side we have the traffickers and on the other side we have the drug users who are not necessarily the traffickers, and so these drug users need to be taken care of and so they cannot be put on the same level as the traffickers. That’s why repression and management need to go hand in hand.

Clearly, the vision of this fight is a drug-free Cameroon, with the overall objective of significantly reducing the supply and use of drugs in Cameroon by 2030. How are you going to reduce the supply of drugs in relation to the demand?

Yes, reducing supply and demand necessarily involves several sectors, notably the Ministry of Public Health and the forces of law and order. As far as supply reduction is concerned, we have the seizures with the police that we are constantly carrying out. As far as demand reduction is concerned, as I was saying earlier, our health centres are equipped with human resources that enable us to easily deal with patients who come to us with drug problems.

What do you say to parents at a time when their children are already on holiday: there may be drug dealers lurking around the corner? What are you formulating through the final adoption of the National Plan to Combat Drugs?

What I would say to parents here is that they should take an ever greater interest in their children’s activities, because this will enable them to understand their children better and to detect early signs of drug use more quickly and make it easier to take care of these children. The further away we are from the children, the more exposed they are.

Transcribed by Audray NDENGUE (Journalism student on internship)