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By Chukwudi Nweje
About 50 million Nigerians, representing a quarter of the estimated 200 million population of the country, live with one form of mental illness or another. One in seven of the population, aged 15 to 64 years, is also into drug abuse.
This was the conclusion of a survey by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in a 2018 report titled “Drug Use in Nigeria.” The report was the first large-scale nationwide national drug use survey conducted in Nigeria and there are indications that the number might have gone up since that survey was conducted three years ago, following the COVID-19 pandemic and the accompanying socio-economic hardship.
The effects of drug abuse, not just on the individual, but the entire country, dominated discussions recently when the 2021 edition of the International Day Against Drug Abuse, marked globally on June 26 every year, was commemorated in Abuja by the Adorable Foundation International (AFI), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), in partnership with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), the Nigeria Police Force, the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) and the medical team of The Triumph Medical Centre, Ikeja.
Held under the theme “A Societal Awareness Campaign Against Drug Abuse,” the seminar attracted experts and professionals, who discussed the dangers of drug abuse.
Alexandra Ebele Ufondu, a legal practitioner and mental health activist, who delivered the lead lecture, identified three categories of drugs: regular drugs administered to sick patients for treatment; illicit drugs, which he said are the most commonly abused and have the ability to impair a person’s mental state; and prescription drugs.
He said that although some prescription drugs could impair a person’s mental state, they are taken for the treatment and management of related illnesses, while illicit drugs are taken for the euphoric feeling they give.
Ufondu lamented that, even with the high number of Nigerians with mental health issues and those indulging in drug abuse, the matter has not been given the required attention.
He said: “Mental illness is an important topic deliberately neglected in Nigeria, as it is falsely believed to be a white man’s disease or believed to be limited to a naked, unkempt persons chasing people on the streets. As a result of the lack of awareness and stigma, as mental illness is considered a taboo in Nigeria, there has been an increase in the number of people suffering from mental illness.
“According to the World Health Organisation, about 50 million Nigerians are currently living with some form of mental illness, which means that one in four Nigerians suffers from a mental illness.”
He listed factors that push people into addictions to include obsession over certain things they enjoy or find pleasurable, a feeling of dependency, influence and misinformation.
Accordion to him, “When somebody suffering from chronic pain, anxiety or insomnia develops a dependency on medication prescribed for an ailment even after he is cured because their mind imposes on them a fear of possible relapse or the inability to reach their maximum potential without the use of the prescription drug, thereby causing a dependency on the said drug. There is a generally conceived false narrative by the society that marijuana cures depression, anxiety and also boosts performance and creativity, among other things, in truth, it is the opposite.”
He further said: “There are four chemicals in the brain, namely, dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins, known as the ‘happy chemicals.’ These chemicals are responsible for a person feeling happy, motivated, loved and other positive feelings. A person develops depression when one or more of these chemicals are not being produced in sufficient amounts. For example, a person not suffering from depression produces 90 per cent of these chemicals, whereas a depressed person produces 40 per cent, which is insufficient. With this is mind, the effect of cannabis on the brain is that it over-stimulates those ‘happy chemicals,’ causing them to excessively produce more than the sufficient amount needed by the brain. The implication of this is, over time, a person producing 90 per cent of these chemicals will be unable to produce this sufficient amount without the use of cannabis because the brain has become dependent on operating on a higher frequency, resulting in depression and anxiety.”
