By Job Osazuwa
Medical experts, religious leaders and other stakeholders have continued to speak against the increasing wave of drug abuse across Nigeria.
The dangers of misuse and abuse of all kinds of drugs and mood-altering substances have become worrisome to stakeholders, including policy makers.
More young men and women are taking drugs, and the prevalence has become an epidemic that is destroying Nigerian youths.
Day and night, young Nigerians, including secondary school students, are seen at every nook and cranny, taking all manner of substances to get intoxicated. And the menace is giving birth to a generation of drug addicts.
Oftentimes, young men are seen with bottles of soft drinks, but laced with all kinds of intoxicating content. They move about with the soft drink bottles and sip slowly for hours while unsuspecting members of the public would easily believe that it is mere harmless soft drink.
The damage that drug addiction is inflicting on the youth and its implication are enormous and multifaceted. The economy and social life of the country is unarguably at the receiving end of a society that is infested with drug addicts.
The dangers of drug abuse of all sorts confront Nigerians every day on the roads, workplace, schools, and at the home, among others.
There is no doubt that some of these drugs are highly addictive, and when taken in excess, could have devastating impact on the mind and body. The health implications, according to experts, include abnormal or decreased touch sensation, blisters under the skin, bloating, blood pressure increase, blurred vision and change in walking and balance.
However, it is believed that increase in awareness and sustained sensitisation would go a long way in curbing the rate at which youths in many communities are indulging in drugs, idleness, rape, fraud, violence and other criminal activities.
It is common to see commercial drivers drinking and taking all manners of self-enhancing substances, including Indian hemp to get “high” before they embark on their journeys. Motor parks across the nation have become points of drug and alcohol sales, even though there is a prohibition to that effect in Lagos. Such drivers, while behind the steering, often end up driving recklessly, and consequently putting the lives of commuters and other road users in grave danger.
These drugs are packaged and sold in liquid, solid and blended for the targeted consumers. More people are lured into the tribe on daily basis. Students, artisans, artists and other classes of people have embraced this new craze for mind-bending drugs.
It is stating the obvious that most of the crimes that are perpetrated across the country could be traced to the influence of drugs on the perpetrators.
Stakeholders have also blamed the influence of foreign media and parental structures, which have become weak, leaving the children very little to look up to. Most children’s lives are said to be hopeless and full of voids, which push them to look up to drugs to fill the space.
Perturbed by the unpalatable development, on October 28, the
Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Mudashiru Obasa and members of the House, called on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to direct all state ministries, departments and agencies, particularly, the office of civic engagement to sensitize Lagos residents and school students on the usage and effect of drug abuse in the state on a regular basis.
A consultant psychiatrist at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Dr. Ladipo Adepoju, said he had handled many mental cases in his career as fallouts of drug abuse, which often led to mental distortion.
Adepoju stated that the effects of drug abuse and wrong use do not only take a toll on the individuals and their families but on society at large. He said many Nigerians, particularly youngsters with brilliant minds, who could have positively affected the society, have been wasted as a result of drug abuse.
He said that the issues of drug abuse, especially among youths, have become worrisome across the country.
“We are here so that the society can learn, benefit and curb the scourge, which keeps tearing the fabric of society.
“Drug abuse cannot be separated from psychiatry. Here, we look at the mental and physical state of the mind, and the social aspect of the individual involved. The behaviour of the consumer affects him or her as well as the people he or she relates within the society. This is why the case cannot be left or treated in isolation.
“I have been a psychiatrist for about two decades. Talking from my experience, having worked in the northern and southern parts of Nigeria, l know what l mean when l describe it as a very troubling issue in society. It has wrecked many families and turned some to paupers,” Adepoju said.
The expert urged families to see drug abuse as everyone’s problem in the country so that it could be tackled from each home.
On why drug misuse was prominent among youths, he said the diverse man-made challenges in Nigeria could be a strong factor. He added that the high level of unemployment was also playing negative roles in the lives of youths.
“Another thing is the apparent lackadaisical attitude of a lot of parents, who keep pursing money at the expense of their children’s moral upbringing. It is a direct opposite of raising and mentoring children as we used to have in the past. These children are ready to pick up anything that is available to them, which quickly becomes the norm in their own understanding. There is hardly any other person who can train a child more than the parents will do. The result of this negligence is fraud, cultism and other criminal activities staring us in the face today,” the expert said.
He said it was unfortunate that many drug barons and syndicates were feeding fat on the business but destroying people and the society. He called on all adults to use every platform available to them to keep discouraging drug abuse.
He said it was unfortunate that the various laws enacted against drug misuse were not effectively implemented, regretting that people have continued to flout them with impunity, and his association had been going from one state to the other to warn Nigerians against the consequences of drug abuse and the ripple effects on the larger society.
Commenting on the ugly development, the pastor in charge of Signs and Wonders Parish, Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Lagos, Mr. Samuel Akintola, admonished the youths to shun drug abuse and all forms of violence. He said nobody was created by God to become a nuisance to the society, adding that such lifestyles always created a lasting adverse impact in the minds of the youth.
He stated that such a lifestyle would prompt them to view life from the prism of achieving great heights overnight by desperate means.
Akintola submitted that Nigeria’s population should be a productive and active one, which, he said, could not be achieved when youths indulge in drugs and suffer from different mental health challenges.
“Our culture is about communal living. Nigerians are known for being our brother’s keeper but it is no longer so these days. Most of these vices today are alien to us. That is why we need to send them packing and back to where they were imported from,” he said.
He believes that drug abuse tells on the morality of the country. He stated that Africa cherishes morality, but this is already being eroded.
Said he: “We now see children having no regards for the elderly.”
The cleric assured them that God was still interested in every soul, irrespective of the depth their sin.
Also disturbed and as part of efforts to treat the high number of persons suffering drug addiction in the country, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA has proposed to establish six standard rehabilitation centres, one in each geo-political zone of Nigeria.
Disclosing this recently in Abuja, the Chairman/Chief Executive of the NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd), at the 5th Biennial National Symposium on Drugs and Drug Policy in Nigeria organised by the Centre for Research and Information on Substance Abuse (CRISA), said that substance use and abuse around the world including Nigeria is on the increase in terms of the proportion of the world’s population.
According to him, “there is no doubt that substance use impacts negatively on the individual, family and the society in general. Substance abuse affects the physical, social and psychological levels of the user and family members.
“Reducing the demand for illicit drugs in the society depends to a large extent on the successful treatment of existing drug users. This fact accounts for the shift in global drug policy viz the treatment of drug problems as a public health issue,” he said.