Drugs are sensitive substances that
should not be toyed with under any circumstance. Doctors and pharmacists
warn that any medicine in the hand of the wrong person is a potential
poison. Unfortunately, that is usually the case in Nigeria. Anyone,
including teenagers, can lay their hands on any medicine so far they
know where to access it.
Investigations by our correspondent who
went to pharmacies in Lagos and Ogun states, who also spoke to operators
of retail pharmacies, revealed that more young boys now buy and
indiscriminately use sedatives, analgesics and other prescriptions drugs as options for marijuana and other hard drugs.
A disturbing scenario played out during the course of this investigation.
While our correspondent was making
enquires at a chemist in Ikeja last Tuesday morning, two teenage boys,
who came on a commercial bike popularly called okada, charged into the drug store.
They seemed uneasy with the kind of
attention their entrance had caused and signalled to the salesgirl to
quickly attend to them as they were in a hurry.
One of the boys asked for 10 tablets of
tramadol, a bottle of a popular brand of cough mixture with codeine and a
sachet of water popularly known as pure water in Nigeria. His friend
also asked for the same medication.
The timid girl obliged them and dispensed the drugs.
In the twinkling of an eye, they swallowed the drugs and topped it with the cough mixture and jumped on the okada they chartered to the chemist and rode off.
Tramadol , according to pharmacists, is a
potent analgesic that works on the central nervous system by outing the
brain to sleep.
According to the experts, tramadol is
classified as an opiod-like analgesic that should not be sold over the
counter to any individual without a prescription from a physician.
Opiods are drugs that are used for their euphoric and analgesic effects
to treat chronic pain.
Yet, it was sold by a chemist operator to the teenagers who swallowed them like candies.
From Lagos to Kano, it’s all the same
Although the law says for anybody to
operate a retail drug store, he or she must have a degree in pharmacy,
investigations conducted by our correspondent revealed that many drug
outlets are daily violating this regulation. Consequently, people who
should not have anything to do with drug sale are now into the business
big time.
Drugs are sold like bread, biscuits,
Kola nuts and any other articles of trade in Nigeria. Illiterate
salesmen, unqualified pharmacists and nurses are all involved.
You find some of them at street corners
in different parts of the country, in motor parks and even in stores
doing their business unperturbed, particularly at night when members of
the taskforce have closed for the day.
From Lagos to Kano, Aba to Onitsha, and
Osogbo to Maiduguri, fake pharmacists do not only sell drugs, they also
dispense such to young people who are looking to abuse them.
For instance, a middle-aged girl, who
sold 50 and 100 milligrammes of tramadol to our correspondent at a drug
store in Magboro, Ogun State on Monday, did not ask for a prescription
before she sold it.
She neither took the details of her customer nor asked for why our correspondent wanted the drug.
Asked if there was a pharmacist on
ground to recommend the dosage, the lady admonished our correspondent,
saying, “We don’t have a pharmacist here. You should know how many you
will need and how to take a drug before you buy it. Do you think it’s
every pharmacy that is operated by a pharmacist?”
Earlier in the day, the first store that
our correspondent visited in Arepo, a largely residential area in Ogun,
did not have a pharmacist on ground even though the emblem in front of
the drug store had ‘Pharmacist -on- duty’ boldly written on it.
The woman manning the store assured our correspondent that she could be of assistance to her in spite of the experts’ absence.
Our correspondent, who asked for
tramadol or any drug with codeine, was told that the outlet had
exhausted its stock and wondered why many people had asked for the same
drugs lately.
She said, “You are the second person to ask for tramadol today. I am going to tell our Oga to be buying more. I sold two cartons of a cough syrup with codeine last month and that does not happen regularly.”
Abuse linked to growing incidence of rape, armed robbery
However, our correspondent had a
different encounter with Mr. Olumide Adesanya, the pharmacist-on-duty at
another retail outlet in the same area.
The first thing he asked for when the
journalist wanted to buy tramadol was a prescription note. He also
wanted to know why she wanted it.
Adesanya told our correspondent that a
19-year-old- boy and his friends came wanting to buy a carton of a cough
mixture at the pharmacy last month.
“I was shocked when he made this request
because I wonder what a 19-year-old would want to do with 40 bottles of
a cough syrup. Just because it has codeine? I sent them out of my
store. Even though codeine in cough syrup can be sold over the counter, I
refused to sell it.
“Tramadol is meant to be sold with a
prescription from a doctor. That is why I ask every customer for it and
also ask for their age. I also must know what you need it for because
people just walk in to ask for drugs they don’t need.
He explained that tramadol has been used to sedate rape victims and rob innocent Nigerians in recent times.
Adesanya said, “Tramadol is an analgesic
that works on the central nervous system. It puts the brain to sleep so
that its ingredients can relieve pain. It is actually meant to be a
pain-relieving medication but rapists put it in drinks to put their
victims to sleep.
“Codeine has some ingredients that ease
the nerves which make people feel good. So, young people who can’t
access hard drugs will buy four bottles and drink it like alcohol when
they want to get high. Many have taken it and gone into a coma.
“A colleague of mine was killed in Niger
State because he refused to sell codeine to a group of boys after they
had made several attempts to buy at his store.”
A robbery incident that occurred last month in the Sapati area of Ilorin in Kwara State may have confirmed Adesanya’s position.
According
to the Kwara State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ajayi
Okesanmi, the police had arrested a group of cultists after they had put
tramadol inside a soft drink to rob a young lady in the area.
According to Okesanmi, bandits usually
offer drug-laden drinks to their victims to put them to sleep while they
dispossess the victim of his or her valuables.
He noted that this was the new devious strategy that cultists had devised to not only rob but also rape their victims.
He warned the public to be cautious of
such evil schemes and avoid taking drinks from unknown people as such
might have been poisoned with analgesics.
Some inject themselves with the drugs – Psychiatrist
Consultant Psychiatrist, Dr. Peter Ogunnubi, told our correspondent that more persons now had mental issues due to drug abuse.
Ogunnubi said, “Tramadol and codeine are
not the only drug that young people use indiscriminately. They also
take diazepam, pentazocine, amadol and some strong anagelsics anyhow.
Even though NAFDAC has tried by insisting that only codeine-free cough
syrups should be sold in the market, they are still there. We still have
other drugs that have codeine that are being sold indiscriminately in
the market. It is going to be difficult to mop up these medicines in
open drug markets because they are in high demand.”
He noted that many of the young persons
administered these drugs on themselves, using injections, thereby
exposing themselves to hepatitis infections, HIV/AIDS infections, skin
ulcers and other deadly infections.
“ Many of them use needles to administer the drugs on one another,” he stressed.
Tramadol
Ogunnubi stated that people who abused
these substances also suffered from drug addiction which would not only
affect them psychologically but also affect their productivity and
relationships with their loved ones.
He said, “ It is an addictive problem
that will tell on every aspect of their lives. Because they get unusual
satisfaction from these drugs, they neglect every other thing. They will
forgo their studies, families and even abscond from school because they
will no longer be able to concentrate. Let’s not forget that they are
young. So, they don’t have much money on them. Hence, they are ready to
do anything – including stealing to get N350 to buy tramadol or
diasoprene to get high.
“Imagine a young boy who could have been
a renowned scientist lying in a mental institution because his friends
got him hooked on codeine.”
The psychiatrist and medical director,
Grace Cottage Clinic, a private mental health hospital in Ikorodu, also
noted that those who abused the substances were more prone to violence
and other criminal activities, including armed robbery.
Ogunnubi stated,“ They don’t only
administer these drugs to sedate their victims, they also use them to
boost their self confidence to do terrible things. The substances change
their personalities. They don’t see anything wrong in beating their
loved ones or strangers.”
He appealed to parents and guardians,
including school authorities, to watch out for any unusual behaviour in
their wards. According to him, any change in attitude that tends to the
negative should not be dismissed.
“ I will appeal to the parents to talk
with their children. School authorities should also discuss any change
in a child’s behaviour to the parents. Many of them use these drugs to
cope with many forms of challenges they face at home or in school.
“Any child with such a problem should be taken to a doctor for psychoanalysis and rehabilitation.”
Shut down open drug markets – Pharmacist
The National Chairman, Lagos State
Chapter of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, Biola
Paul-Ozieh , also raised the alarm over increasing demand for tramadol
and codeine among teenagers.
She lamented that teenagers had been caught concocting large quantities of tramadol to be used as sedatives and aphrodisiacs.
According to Paul-Ozieh, reports from
her colleagues operating retail pharmacies in various parts of the
country show that there has been an unusual demand for these two drugs
from young people in recent times.
She said, “More young people are now
abusing drugs that they have no business with and it’s alarming from the
reports we are getting from our colleagues. The worst is the abuse of
tramadol which is supposed to be a prescription drug. They come in to
ask for it and when you question them about it, they go to the ‘abokis’ –
mallams – and chemists in the neighbourhood to buy it.
“We see it a lot in the communities where we practise – teenagers asking for anything with codeine to get high.”
The pharmacists identified the open drug
market system in the country as a major factor that has allowed such
illegal activities to thrive.
Adesanya said, “The sale and regulation
of over-the-counter and prescriptions drugs will not work until
government shuts down the open drug markets.
“Many of these young people just go to
the Idumota drug market where they sell drugs in any quantity to anyone
without asking any question.
“ Many operators of these wholesale and
retail drug stores are not even literate. They just want to make profit
so they have no standards because they are not even trained pharmacists.
They know that these young people want to abuse these drugs, yet they
sell them or why else will you sell four bottles of codeine to a young
man?
“The government must wake up and address
issues relating to the sale, distribution and circulation of drugs in
Nigeria. They must ask themselves what the qualification of those
stocking and dispensing drugs is in this country. The trend is alarming.
That is why regulatory agencies must help vulnerable Nigerians.”
Culled from Punch.
BUKOLA ADEBAYO
Copyright PUNCH.
