NDLEA looks away as drugs grip Nigeria

Everywhere you go in Nigeria today, the main concern, apart from politics and national security is drug abuse. And it is telling that today virtually no one remembers that there is an agency called National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA. The agency, which was once highly regarded, respected and even feared has died or on the throes of death. As recreational drugs suffocates Nigerians into silence, both the health ministry, police and the lead agency against drug abuse, NDLEA appear helpless, if not in some conspiracy.
Nigeria today has a high population of young people. Depending on the demography of young people you use, this bracket can get up to 140 million people. It is this segment that falls within the group that abuses drugs the more. They are the population between 14 to 50 years old. And this is frightening. What is more, like we previously pointed out, government, enforcement agencies and non governmental agencies appear helpless. Even the National and state houses of assembly have kept mute. No action. No demands.
Painkillers and cough medications appear to be the aces. In Nigeria, the favorites are: tramadol, refenol, codeine and marijuana- the old but reliable for drug users. To make matters worse, there are users who mix the above listed drugs up. They abuse the drugs and call it “gutter water”. This is popular among hip hop musicians in the country. There is another one called “vitamins”, its also a mixture of several drugs. However, tramadol trumps all of them at this time. This is so because it is an over the counter pain medication that is at the fulcrum of a very present drug problem.
A report recently stated that “39m tablets of Tramadol, worth N3bn with above prescription quantity per tablet seized at Apapa port.” Nigeria’s drug problem is sufficiently documented, even though a walk through the streets will tell you a more vivid story. Marijuana is commonly talked about and sold at street corners and worryingly, most people that take marijuana equally take tramadol or codeine.
So what is this tramadol that has seized the souls of our young? Tramadol is an opioid analgesic. It is prescribed to treat moderate to moderately severe pain and is considered a safer alternative to other narcotic analgesics like hydrocodone, and methadone. This medication is delivered in two forms: for medical purposes, such as surgeries or for severe pain, it is given as intravenously as an injection or passed as drips. It is also sold in Nigeria as an over-the-counter medication in green capsules of between 50mg to 400mg. When taken in pill form at high doses, some of its less desirous side-effects include nausea, diarrhoea, loss of appetite, and dry mouth will manifest. So in the inverse, tramadol can produce a euphoric high similar to another commonly abused opiate medication, oxycodone.. It is that “high” that has attracted the abusers.
The proliferation has been long in coming but it has saturated the market as we can see and feel. It is cheap. Contrary to what many think, getting high in Nigeria is pretty pricey. While the basic parcel of local marijuana can be bought for next to nothing, the most used drugs are rather expensive. A bottle of cough syrup with codeine can cost anything from 1000 naira to 2500 naira. Strains of marijuana like Loud can run into 15,000 naira for a small sachet that may or may not last the user beyond a few days.
By contrast, a 10-tablet sachet of 100mg Tramadol costs the grand total of 100 naira.
The cheap pricing is made worse by how easy it is to get the drug. Since it is not banned or carefully regulated, most pharmacies still sell tramadol to any and everybody who walks in. Even street drug hawkers stock this danger.
The effects of this uncontrolled abuse are there for everyone to see. Kids in secondary schools, students in tertiary schools, yahoo-yahoo boys, armed robbers, pick pockets, thugs, drivers, conductors, young couples are involved in this menace. To get high or to have sex. To steal or to destroy. This is the tragedy. No wonder crime has spiked. When you see young people smiling at nothing, smiling sheepishly, ghost walking and talking in uncoordinated manner; when you see robbery where people are slaughtered or herdsmen become killer machines, look closer, a tramadol or its variant should be in the menu. Will NDLEA and ministry of health stand up?