DRUG use and abuse among youths today is no longer new. In fact, not being in the clique of those who use drugs is to be an outcast and a ‘deviant’, not minding the heavy damage it is doing to the physiology and social life of the youths who are deeply into it.
For the family of a legal practitioner, Clement Okhide and his wife, Toyin, drugs have done an irreparable damage. Their son, 23-year-old Michael, an alleged drug addict, had always been a problem. They tried to talk him out of drug use all to no avail.
His education took him to three private universities, but drug abuse would not let him complete his studies. His parents’ several warnings did not dissuade him and when he apparently got tired of their constant warnings, he allegedly killed them and left his sister half dead. He has been on the run ever since.
Living on a fast lane with drugs by the side is the signpost of today’s youth as they try to closely copy the lifestyles of those they consider as role models – mostly musicians. It is now common sight to see them on the social media boldly posting photographs of their escapades with friends as they take their favourite drugs with smoke emitting from their mouths and nostrils; tongue coloured blue, pupils dilated from the effects of drugs and weeds. They describe their wanton lifestyles with captions such as “live your life”; “I can’t kill myself”; “living da vi da locca”, and the like.
Not only this, youths openly upload videos of themselves online taking shisha, using drugs like Refenol, Swinol, Tramadol, codeine, Colorado, Arizona, crack (cocaine), S.K, flacka, spice, ‘pawpaw’ and lots more.
Living on the fast lane…
Sunday Tribune took an undercover trip to a joint where youths often converge to engage in their pastime. Located in a community totally hidden from plain sight, the joint was filled with mostly young guys, both men and ladies, smoking and feeling good.
A ragged-looking young man with bleached skin and tattoo on his left arm sat in a corner of the joint, slowly puffing away, covered in the smoke of the wrapped cannabis between his fingers. Another young man was simply lost in midst of the convivial atmosphere.
Given the fact that the joint was recently raided by the National Drug law Enforcement Agency, Sunday Tribune went with a friend who is well-known at the joint so as not to draw unnecessary attention. As we settled down, we specifically asked for Colorado.
Sunday Tribune was shocked at the quantity of the drug that was being sold at N500 and the ease with which the drugs were delivered. To confirm how easy it was to procure this drug, we also asked for N100 worth of Arizona, another type of popular drugs among the youths. It was delivered swiftly enough wrapped in a yellow package, which was referred to as the “Bible”. It was cut opened, revealing fresh weed.
At the heart of the operation at the joint is the drug kingpin. The drug lord, getting curious, asked our companion who Sunday Tribune was. He wanted to be sure whom he was dealing with and went further to ask for a contact phone number wanting “to take care” of the reporter. Though Sunday Tribune was scared, there was an assurance from the friend and they both had to play along and soon left with a promise to return.
Speaking with Sunday Tribune, one of the patrons of the joint, who pleaded anonymity, said he frequented the joint to smoke marijuana. He explained that he gets a sensual feeling which takes him to a realm of fantasy and keeps him in a relaxed mood whenever he takes marijuana.
When asked if he was an addicted smoker, he said: “I see myself stopping, but presently I can’t stop; I am not addicted but I can’t stop now,” he said.
Another user of marijuana, who also pleaded anonymity ,said “smoking makes me think (deeply); when I smoke, I think deeper. What I can’t think of normally, marijuana helps me think of them. I see life from a different perspective, it puts me in a relaxed mood and I don’t see myself stopping soon. I am not addicted and I will stop smoking when I want to.”
But it is not everyone who comes to the joint that smokes weed or take the illicit drugs concocted at the joint. Lekan, one of the young men who often patronise the joint, told Sunday Tribune. Though he had smoked weed before, narrating that his weed smoking history dates back to his Junior Secondary School One (JSS 1) and had been smoking ever since then, He had to stop when he felt smoke clogging in his chest. Today, he only comes around to socialise at the joint, not necessarily to smoke.
These drugs come with their deleterious effects too, as often seen on viral videos on the social media. A young lady who identified herself as Adeola told Sunday Tribune that she almost went insane the first time she tried smoking.
“After a few drags, I felt something moving from my head towards my feet; I could hear voices and I began to see flashes of visions. I was lost in a world of my own, my body temperature increased, my heartbeat skipped.
“At a point I couldn’t remember the words I said seconds ago; but now I take pills and marijuana. I am not addicted as I can decide when to take it and when not to,” she boasted.
Deadly and expensive business…
Despites its illegality and how expensive the substances are, there is always a long list of clientele waiting to be served. Sunday Tribune saw people trooping in and out of the joint. The night time provides a natural cover for the illegal trade out of prying eyes. They feel safe and protected by the dark blanket that night offers to carry on the business of satisfying their very expensive cravings.
According to insiders, pills are sold in cards (sachets containing 10 pills) including Refenol, Swinol which go for N3,000, while half of a card is sold for N1500. If a user takes five cards for example in a week, that comes to N15,000 per week.
If a seller has five customers who use five cards in a week, he makes N75,000 and definitely the clientele is such a good number to keep the seller smiling to the bank every day for long time.
Cocaine is the most expensive of them all and could be got for N5,000 at least. A Colorado user spends N500 for his favourite drug and adds Arizona to complement it and that goes for N600, depending on the number of times he smokes in a day. If he smokes five times in a day, that means he buys five wraps of Colorado for N2,500 and five wraps of Arizona (reggie) for N3000.
Sunday Tribune also discovered that the higher the potency of the drug, the smaller the quantity and the higher the price, while the lower the potency, the lower the price, but the higher the quantity.
As costly as these drugs are, it is a wonder how the young people fund their craze for the drugs, given the fact that most of them are jobless. Sunday Tribune learnt that the urge to satisfy the expensive and dangerous habit accounts for the escalation of criminality among the youth, particularly Internet-related frauds and others.
Of note is the way some of the ingredients are mixed together to form different types of exotic drugs. Recently, the Ondo State Police Command arrested a suspect with 239 grams of substances which are a mixture of sachet Milo with cannabis sativa. Sometimes, the illicit substances may be a mixture of Tramadol, Rohypnol (Roche) and Exol-5. Sometimes it could be dry pawpaw leaves and a brand of seasoning product.
All the ingredients are grounded together and sieved, after which a teaspoonful is added into a neatly opened sachet and stirred then sealed and pressed with hot Iron. The substance becomes soft when heated but after few minutes it becomes solidified and sold on the street as “Chocomilo, Bournvita or Colorado” for N200 per sachet, though it is only a mixture of Milo beverage and cannabis.
When other substances earlier mentioned are added, the price goes for between N300 to N500 per sachet.
Mr Opeyemi Okunfuwa, a sociologist, was of the opinion that “government should clamp down on producers of the drugs, increase penalty for users, fix the prevalent economic woes and actively engage youths in productive economic activities.
Okunfuwa added that government should also control media content promoting illegal use and abuse of drugs. He noted that “the social media is not helping matters as some celebrities promote drug abuse through the various platforms just as youths erroneously tap into the celebrities’ lifestyles and openly associate themselves with drug abuse and misuse,” he added.
Dr Moyo Maitanmi, a psychiatrist, at Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, said the number of people being brought into Yaba Psychiatric Hospital were cases of those already addicted to cannabis and alcohol. He added that some people have mental disorder arising from drug use on their first intake, because the brain could not handle the effect of such drugs, while it takes longer with some people before the drugs begin to affect them.
“Users of crack (cocaine) get addicted faster because whenever they use it, it leaves them with the desire to take more; some run into financial debt because it is expensive to buy. They sell off their possessions, an act which affects their homes and render them unfit for the society. At a point the user of psychoactive substances loses control of the whole process, because the body wants it, and if the body doesn’t get it, there is a withdrawal symptom and the feeling is not a nice experience, and to avoid those withdrawal symptoms, the person goes to take those drugs again to feel normal,” he said.
Dr Yomi Popoola, of Iconic Hospital, Ikeja, Lagos in his own opinion said the drugs are often used for medical purposes which come with proper administration, but people have abused their usage.
“There are quite some complications that can arise from using all these hard drugs in excess. Addiction is just one of them; most drug addicts have mental problems ranging from depression to mania, to schizophrenia and all sort. Addiction on its own is a mental illness. When one is addicted to a drug, one tends to take them in excess, and when one is past the therapeutic limit, there are tendencies to start assimilating the side effects of those drugs.
“Of course all drugs have side effects, and when such begins to happen, it can cause a whole lot of problems, ranging from stroke, cardiac arrest, to liver problem. Lots of those drugs are metabolised in either in the kidney or the liver; so issues come up with the kidney and the liver.
“Also some of those drugs have been known to cause erectile dysfunction; for example, Tramadol is known at a particular dosage range to boost sexual performance, but when it is taken far above a certain level, it becomes counter-productive, which can eventually lead to erectile dysfunction,” Dr Popoola said.
Parents and wards must step in…
The Public Relations Officer of NDLEA, Oyo State Command, Mutiat Okuwobi, while speaking with the Sunday Tribune, said “drug usage is increasing at an alarming rate, and it’s not peculiar to Oyo State alone. It’s everywhere; the way youths use drugs now is increasing on a daily basis. People want to get high at all costs; they have moved from the conventional way of getting high from the conventional way of using Indian hemp, marijuana, cocaine, cough syrups, to the unconventional way of taking drugs, like sniffing pit latrines, using inhalants; they inhale fuel, correction fluid, embalmment fluid, mixing spirit with coke, Lacasera with hypo; they use cough syrup to get high also. They go to the extreme at all cost to get high.
“In 2019, over 70 persons were prosecuted for selling hard drugs; due to the large profit involved, people tend to go into it more despite our efforts to curb them. Forty per cent of youths are involved in drug usage in Oyo State with their ages ranging from 15 to 50 years old.
“Whenever we dislodge them from a joint, in a space of two hours, some other set of people start up at the same spot. The Black Spots include places like Koto at Mokola; Ayeye, Molete, New Garage, Challenge, Iwo road.
“We arrest and prosecute drug traffickers, and the punishment for such act is between six months to 15 years imprisonment, to serve as deterrent to others. The reason why we don’t prosecute users of drugs is because we believe they need help; we sensitise them, take them to the rehab and make them become better persons.
“In curbing this virus, parents must school their wards on drug abuse and the consequences. The school as a medium of communication also must communicate to our youths the negative side of drug abuse. Community leaders, religious leaders, must join hands to fight this drug war. We go out every week, to sensitise people on drug abuse; we use the media as a platform to reach out to people as well. If we are able to clamp down on the chains of supplies for these drugs, the demand for it would be relatively low.”
An Assistant Superintendent of Police, Moniya, police division, Ibadan, Mr Adekunle Ogunsola, speaking with Sunday Tribune said: “the duty of the police is to apprehend drug traffickers and hand them over to the NDLEA for prosecution. There are joints everywhere within the state, but the major work falls on the drug agency we have in Nigeria.”
The Rehabilitation Process
Speaking on rehabilitation process for an addict, Dr Maitanmi said it all begins when an addict “realises that he needs help,” noting that psychoactive substances cause Schizophrenia, crime and social dislocation, among others.
“Rehab(ilitation) involves the person realising his problems, and that is called Motivation. The next process involves detoxification, which involves removing the substances from the body. But some people do fall back into relapse. This is when the user of these psychoactive substances goes back to using these substances. After rehabilitation process had taken place before, some might recover, while some might get hooked for life,” Dr Maitanmi added.
and then