- Stakeholders worried as more women abuse drugs
BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and other health experts have revealed that, owing to the unbridled intake of illicit substances, the organs of many young Nigerians have been damaged.
They also pointed out that many women and girls were taking interest in drug abuse even as the menace hadbecome inveterate among male youths.
Consequently, stakeholders are worried that the nation may experience a serious public health crisis in the next decade if something concrete is not done to change the ugly narratives.
Intake of illicit substances such as Colorado, Canadian Loud, Black Mamba, Green Snake, Arizona (AZ), Molly, Skunk and Mpkuru Mmiri has become rampant among young persons who see them as pastime.
Checks revealed that even when these youths were aware that the substances were capable of destroying their future, they would not let go of them.
In some markets, motor parks and relaxation spots, people smoke these substances openly without fear of arrest by law enforcement agents.
The NDLEA recently said that, approximately, 14.3 million Nigerians were involved in drug abuse. The agency said the 14.3 million Nigerian drug abusers were within the age range of 15 and 64 years, adding that more women were now involved.
The Ogun State Commander of the NDLEA, Ibiba Odili, during the Launch of the War Against Drug Abuse, in collaboration with Lions Club International, held in Abeokuta, lamented the alarming trend of the involvement of women in drug abuse in the country, saying “one in four is a woman.”
“One out of every four drug users is a woman. In 2018, data shows that more women are going into drug use. And if more women are going into drug use, it is a source of worry for us, because, it means that the traditional roles of women in families and communities as caregivers, role models, and live moulders will be threatened.What quality of children are these women going to raise?” she said.
She added that people now abused household substances like methylated spirit, glue, nail polish, paint thinner, fermented urine, and even the heads of matches, as this contributes to the complexity of the drug abuse issue.
Odili warned about the dire consequences of drug production, especially substances like methamphetamine.
She explained that regions involved in producing such drugs might suffer from various forms of cancer and other terminal diseases within a decade or two.
Already, illegal drug business is booming in the country and cartels are becoming more desperate and deadly.
Last week, operatives of NDLEA in Edo State were ambushed by some daredevil drug cartels who opened fire on them in a bid to prevent the officers from destroying their warehouses that had been filled up with psychoactive substances. Three of the officers got shot in the head and other parts of their bodies.
A statement by the Director, Media and Advocacy, NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, disclosed that the law enforcement agents repelled a rain of bullets from armed hoodlums who blocked all roads in Opuje community, Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State to prevent the anti-narcotic operatives from accessing the forest warehouses where tons of processed psychoactive substances had been stored for distribution, nationwide,ahead of the coming Christmas and New Year season.
“This is coming barely 11 months after armed youths recruited by drug barons ambushed NDLEA officers who stormed the community to destroy massive warehouses and tents storing over 317,417 kilograms (317.4 metric tons) of cannabis sativa on Wednesday 18th January 2023.
“At least, three suspects: Omoruan Theophilus, 37; Aigberuan Jacob, 42; Ekeinde Anthony Zaza, 53, and Naomi Patience Ohiewere, 42, were arrested in connection with the drugs then,” the statement revealed.
“The Opuje community is notorious for cannabis cultivation, where the cartels invest huge resources, cutting down economic trees of the forest reserves and cultivating cannabis on a large scale, running into hundreds of hectares. After harvest, they build warehouses inside the forest reserves and employ the services of armed youths to protect the warehouses 24/7,” it added.
A medical expert from the Osun State University Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, Dr Mike Olusina, said the rate at which women and youths indulged, nowadays, in drug abuse was alarming, adding that most people lived with truncated mental well-being.
He described drug abuse as a destructive agent that required the joint effort of families and the government to address.
He said, “Substance abuse is condemnable and has health challenges. It is a destructive agent that can harm the body system; organs of the body can be compromised. It can damage the brain and cause mental derangement. When they take it, it stimulates them and some of them will be unconscious. They don’t know what they are doing. It can also cause impotence, destroy the kidney and the liver. And if a person continues to take it, their life is in danger.
“Now that Christmas and New Year celebration is around the corner, I want to urge government and other concerned authorities to intensify campaigns and awareness to address this problem. Parents have great roles to play in this and it is unfortunate some of our mothers and would be ones are partaking in this abuse.”
“A situation where you have even parents abusing illicit substances on their own, there is the possibility that their children would also abuse these substances. That is why we identified lack of intentional parenting or weak parenting as a factor responsible for this scourge among our youths,” Babafemi added.
Enumerating some of the impacts of the dangerous substances, the agency’s official said many young Nigerians who abused drugs might have got their organs damaged in their 20s.
He said, “Naturally, when they take some of these things whether it is Colos, Molly, Arizona or even the opioids, they have damaging consequences especially on their organs because they are not meant for what they are using them for. They are not controlled; they are not managed. So, you see some young people in their 20s and their organs would pack up. Some develop a lot of medical issues. You may just hear that somebody that had been bubbling out there has passed on.
“They may give it all manner of names but at the end of the day, if you get to the bottom of it, some of the guys as a result of the reckless consumption of these substances have developed organ problems and a lot of medical issues. Those that are not dead yet have to contend with some of these issues for as long as God gives them the permission to live. This means that they are no longer enjoying their lives as normal human beings.”
The stakeholders, therefore, urged Nigerians who indulged in these illicit substances to desist and also sought provision of more rehabilitation centres across the country to tackle the menace.
