*I have been doing drugs for 10 years, says 23-year-old man

*Nigeria sitting on keg of gunpowder, experts warn

By Chioma Obinna

Substance abuse is a growing public health problem across the world. But the disturbing trend is not only that Nigeria has surpassed the prevalence of drug abuse in the world with 14.4 per cent of Nigerians aged 15 to 64 years presently engaged in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.

According to a report by the United Nations Office on Drug and Crimes, UNODC, it is a fact that the trend has trickled down to late childhood and early adolescence.

Of the 14.4 percent, 27.7 per cent were youths who ordinarily should face their studies and secure their future.

Experts worry that Nigeria may be sitting on a keg of gunpowder with almost three times the global drug use prevalence of 5.5 per cent.

Sunday Vanguard reports that with drug abuse attaining an epidemic level, the situation portends a negative trend to the future of Nigeria.

The media have been awash with reports of a 300-Level Mass Communication student of the University of Lagos, UNILAG, Chidinma Ojukwu, who was arrested over the murder of the Chief Executive Officer, Super TV, Usifo Ataga.

According to the reports, she was said to have been under the influence of drug. Further reports showed that she went into substance abuse even before she became a teenager – 11 years.

READ ALSO: I stabbed Super TV CEO because of drugs, alcohol influence ― Chidinma, 300L Unilag student

But like Chidimma many young Nigerians have been lost to narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances. Many are receiving treatment in different psychiatric homes across the country with little or no hope of permanent recovery.

Drug user experience

A young Nigerian struggling with drug addiction is Ifemene. At 13, Ifemene has moved from marijuana to crack cocaine.

According to him, his condition is now at a point of no return. “I have tried to quit drugs several times without success”, he lamented during an interview with Sunday Vanguard. “The more I struggle to quit the more I slip deeper into it”.

It all started when Ifemene was in JSSII and could no longer go to school because of school fees issues.

“My mother and my father separated over alleged infidelity on my father’s side. Shortly after the separation, life became unbearable for me and my siblings. I was forced to drop out of school,” he said.

Ifemene could no longer hang around her mother after the father abandoned them.

He decided to move from the family house in Ketu to Ijora area of Lagos where he met his master who introduced him to substance abuse.

“I met Mr. Ade who was into petty trading. After narrating my story to him, he decided to offer me a job and a roof over my head.

“But he gave me a condition that I must always obey him and do anything he asked me to do.”

Like any desperate person, Ifemene agreed to his condition. His woes started when his master called him one night to follow him to a party.

At the party, drugs and alcohol and other substances were shared freely.

“It was my first time and I was forced to take marijuana. I had no choice. Today, I am 23 years old and 10 years into drugs,” he narrated.

“I can no longer function well without it. I feel high, light and good each time I take it but when I have nothing to take, I can be irritated. I will not even talk to you as I am doing right now.”

Ifemene story is just one out of millions of Nigerian youths engaged in substance abuse.

According to medical experts, substance use can lead to cognitive derailment, a symptom of schizophrenia, a mental disorder.

The experts explained that drug abusers in such state cannot think right and, due to poor judgment at that moment, anything can happen including murder.

This possibly could explain why Chidimma may have killed the Super TV Executive Director. However, the experts say, generally, anybody who kills has intent to kill and should not be allowed to get away from responsibility by blaming the drug.

Prevalence

Meanwhile, the prevalence of substance abuse in Nigeria has passed the world level, according to a report by UNODC which says many of the abusers are young Nigerians within the ages of 15 and 65 years.

According to a Consultant Addiction Psychiatrist, Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, Dr Olajumoke Koyejo, the increasing prevalence of narcotic substance abuse in Nigeria leaves much to be desired.

Substance abuse by young Nigerians, Koyejo stated has been on the rise over the years as they are admitting more patients using substances at the Psychiatric Hospital Yaba.

Saying the rise was above what is obtainable in other parts of the world, she traced the reasons to the fact that drugs are available, accessible and affordable.

“You can imagine that we still have alcohol in sachet in Nigeria. They sell it very cheap and it is sold everywhere, to any age group”, the expert said.

“A five-year-old child can buy it. This is because Nigeria is not enforcing rules and regulations that would have been of help. “As an addiction psychiatrist, one of the commonest substances my patients used is tobacco and marijuana.

“Unfortunately, synthetic marijuana that eats the brain can lead to psychosis. Marijuana is very cheap and available but contains mind-altering (e.g., psychoactive) compounds like tetrahydrocannabinol as well as other active compounds like cannabidiol.”

Koyejo said although substance abuse can offer a temporary high and feeling of being fine, afterwards, it can decrease cognition, increase the risk of psychosis illness and worsen presentation of psychotic illness.

Crime

Noting that drugs go hand in hand with crime, she disclosed that a new study ongoing at the hospital on substance use by patients shows that 50 to 65 percent of patients admitted using narcotic substances.

“Definitely, drug use can lead to a person killing a person because when it enters into cognitive derailment, the person cannot think and that would lead to poor judgment and anything can happen”.

Another Consultant Psychiatrist and former Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr Femi Olugbile, explained that the use of a drug for any reason other than the prescribed/recommended medical usage is abuse.

Also noting the increase in the number of drug users in Nigeria, especially among youths, he said the effects could be physical, sometimes mental as it may damage liver, brain and other organs and sniffing glue/other inhalants may damage brain.

“It can, depending on the drug and the individual constitution, it is important to note that some drugs are dangerous because they cause dis-inhibition, reality distortion or violence/dangerous behavior”, Olugbile said.

“For example, last week, there was a report of a student in one of the SE states who jumped from the top floor of a students’ hostel while ‘under the influence’

“Indian hemp, now available as ‘cookies’, is served at students’ parties all over Nigeria, just like alcohol, cigarette (nicotine), sedative/hypnotics such as Rohypnol, codeine (particularly popular in the North), ‘designer (chemistry) drugs and bizarre mixtures of substances.

“Very rarely some drugs or state of intoxication may lead to violent behaviour which may lead to the death of the person or others”.

Burden

On his part, Vice President, Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria, APN, Dr Veronica Oluyemisi Nyamali, noted that drug abuse among Nigerian youths was a huge problem.

Nyamali said a report by UNODC in 2019 showed that 271 million people within the ages of 15 and 64 years abused drugs in previous years, making drug abuse an emerging global public health issue.

She added that it has been projected that 35 million individuals will end up experiencing drug use disorders while a global body of disease study in 2017 estimated that 585,000 deaths occurred due to drug use that year

“The burden of drug abuse in terms of its usage, abuse and trafficking has also been related to the four areas of the international concerns which are terrorism and insurgency, illicit financial flows, organised crime and corruption”, Nyamali said.

“This is the drug burden in Nigeria too and the youth are seriously involved. And the most commonly abused drugs include cannabis, cocaine, heroin, codeine, cough syrup and tramadol”.

Implications

Stating that the health implications of drug abuse were along psychiatric and medical implications, the Consultant Psychiatrist/ Psychiatric Rehabilitation Specialist said for the health and psychiatric implications, people may end up becoming anxious and they can become depressed.

“When they get out of hand, they develop psychosis, delusional disorders, major psychiatric illnesses like schizophrenia, and some of them can have mental condition that sometimes results in other medical problems.

“Some end up having suicidal behaviours and they attempt to commit suicide and, because of this, we keep having a real inflow of these patients into our clinics.

“We see a lot of them. When we talk about medical risks, it ranges from hepatitis to HIV, cancer, heart and lung disease including heart attack, and brain damage of all types etc.

“Findings also reveal that the risk factors among the youths range from things like poor achievements in school to poor relationship with parents, lack of basic knowledge on the dangers of drugs, lack of parental supervision and peer pressure.

“It is important to know that, according to 2018 UNODC report, drug use in Nigeria is one in seven persons aged 16 to 54 who had used drug in the past year and one in five individuals who had used drug in the past year is suffering from drug related disorder.

“Drug abuse, of course, has been linked to a lot of crimes like shoplifting, sex work, burglary, theft etc. Cannabis is the most abused drug reported in various studies done in Nigeria.

“The prevalence of cannabis among members of the general public is much lower than what was found among youths; after cannabis, the next is cocaine.

“Cocaine abuse is very common among secondary school students and undergraduates.

“The prevalence is higher on what we find in the general population; the widespread of the use of cocaine in Nigeria is related to access due to increase in trafficking of drugs.

“Despite the existing legal control and measures, Codeine is the third most frequently reported drug abuse from various studies done in Nigeria and, of course, it is higher among youths, adolescents than the general public.

“It is important to also note the sources where drug abusers obtain drugs range from pharmacies to patent medicine shops, open markets, hawkers in traditional herbal preparation who mix all sorts of things together, then fellow drug abusers, undergraduates’ agent, some from family members”.

Political will

Critical health watchers believe that tackling drug abuse requires political will on the part of government.

They are of the view that government should fund interventions that would reduce drug use among young people in Nigeria.

Government policies, they say, should be designed in such a way that there will be finance preventive advocacy.

The watchers noted the importance of family in reducing drug abuse among youths, stating that families should monitor and inculcate the right values in children.

Vanguard News Nigeria