By Emma Emeozor
Participants at a confab on the anti-drug war held recently at the American Corner, Concord Way, Ikeja, Lagos, were stunned by the videos of dreadful looking young Nigerians who are victims of drug abuse.
Convened by a non-governmental organisation, Silec Initiatives, the confab highlighted the cause and effect of drug addiction on the youth, the renewed efforts of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) under the administration of Brigadier General Buba Marwa at wiping out the drug market in Nigeria as well as the role of the public and private sectors in winning the war.
Describing the youth as the “enablers of development, peace and progress,” the founder/president of Silec Initiatives, Sunny Irakpo, said they (youth) cannot be left to “their fate to die aimlessly and shamelessly without fulfilling their dreams and aspirations as a result of one enemy called drug abuse and addiction.
“We are canvassing more engaging and profitable ways to help our youths chart a better course for their lives through mind restructuring and energy redirection programmes in placement of the pleasure derived from drug use.”
He noted that the consumption of illicit drugs have either thrown many promising young Nigerians into the state of insanity or sent them to their early graves. Quoting a 2018 report by the Psychiatric Association of Nigeria, Irakpo said: “85 per cent of insane individuals (mad people) in Nigeria are youths between the age bracket of 18 to 38 years and it’s as a result of drug abuse.”
He lamented that “drugs are being abused in various primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions.” He warned that drug addiction is “fuelling cultism, radicalism and criminality” in and outside the institutions of learning across the country.
He noted that drug abuse “has become a norm, a worrying phenomenon that must be nip at the bud.”He drew attention to the havoc a poly drug called ‘Colorado’ is wreaking on the youth. He explained that it has different coded street names such as: baba, colos, puff-puff pass, malafa, loud, lamba, happy boy, black mamba, comorado, spice, MP 15 among others.
According to him, colorado is an artificial variant of marijuana and it causes mental episodes, hallucinations, convulsions, kidney failure and a ‘zombie-like’ state of intoxication, adding that it “inflicts self harm that can lead to death.”
He listed drugs in the substance abuse category in circulation across the country. They include: Lipton soaked with Regal-gin-Tramadol-Codeine mixture with soft drinks, dry pawpaw leaves, Hypo in Lacasera, Tom Tom in Lacasera, Spirogyra, Rephneol, Gum, 10 days urine, Methylated spirit in codeine, Methylated spirit in Coke, Dry plantain leaves and Cannabis (Igbo) in Regal gin.
Others are: burnt tyres, burnt bitumen, soaked used menstruation pads, Lizard excreta, rotten dried blended fish mixed with powder-goose, the pealed-off skin of Irish potato, petrol-gas tablet, 425-septic tank, drainage water, local gin mixed with chemicals-puff-puff-pass colosor (ma lo fa in Yoruba), loud, monkey tail, skunk, ice, mkpurimirin, mosquito, shisha, skushi, molly, mixed alcoholic drinks, cookies, extol-5tablet, diazepam tablets, pentazocine injection, grizona among others.
Irakpo warned that if Nigerians don’t unite against substance abuse and halt the trend now, the country and its youth are doomed. “Of a truth, in the history of Nigeria, we have not seen the high level of desperation of drug traffickers and unrepentant barons who keep working hard to turn Nigeria into a narcotic economy,”he said. “Why will our youths be killing fellow humans, eating their excreta and trafficking drugs just to make fast money in this contemporary society, why? He asked rhetorically.
Irakpo gave insight into how drugs work in the brain to produce pleasure or ‘reward system.’ “Nearly all addictive drugs directly or indirectly target the brain’s reward system by flooding the circuit with dopamine” which is “a neurotransmitter present in regions of the brain that regulate movement, emotion, cognition, motivation and reinforcement of rewarding behaviours.
“When activated at normal levels, this system rewards our natural behaviours. Over stimulating the system with drugs, however, produces effects which strongly reinforce the behaviour of the user to continually run back to the drug for more pleasure, leading to long lasting caging in the addiction.
“Dapamine is a role player on how we feel pleasure. It is a big part of our unique human ability to think and plan.” He wants the public to know that drug addiction is “a three generation disease, manageable but not curable. It is a chronic brain disease, relapsing disorder characterised by compulsive drug seeking, continued use despite harmful consequences.”
He lauded Marwa for showing “capacity as a performer” and deploying “kinetic experience and approach” to oversee the successful operations of the NDLEA despite the rate at which drugs are being imported into the country and the different methods being used to traffic the drugs across the country.
He was emphatic when he said, Silec Initiatives is strongly committed to complementing the efforts of the NDLEA in the war against drug abuse in Nigeria. He called on Nigerians “to see the fight as ours and not a Buba Marwa’s fight. It is a fight that requires our concerted efforts to save our children, youths and nation from colossal damages.”
He highlighted some of the measures his organisation had taken to combat the menace of drugs. “We have taken multidimensional approaches to combat this menace by reaching out to the public through different platforms.” The approaches are four basic projects: Drug abuse Elimination Campaign Strategy; Enlightenment on Sexual Molestation and Abuse of Children; Culture and Language Preservation and Youth Development and Empowerment.
Irakpo announced that Silec Initiatives has cultivated international relationships yielding good results. For example, the organisation has signed a 5-year partnership with WorldChicago for the implementation of SILEC IN CHICAGO Citizenship Diplomacy Leadership Exchange Programme (Train the Trainer) to take place in the United States every year. It is knowledge and culture based programme where Nigerian youths will be groomed for national development at the global space.