Despite ban, codeine still wrecking lives in Maiduguri
In spite of the ban on codeine, the use of the drug is still widespread among youths in Maiduguri, Borno State, Daily Trust findings have revealed.
There are operating from metropolis.
“If you go to Lake Chad Hotel premises which is very close to where I live, empty bottles of codeine containing drugs and cough syrup litter everywhere, one would actually wonder if truly the substance has been banned. People are still consuming it,” said Bukar Ibrahim, a concerned resident.
“It makes the consumers rebellious and they engage in rape, theft and bunkering. People engaged in drugs can go to any length to source for money to finance the habit,” Bukar added.
Another resident, Abdullahi Goni said large numbers of youths and housewives in Maiduguri indulge in drugs.
“Many of them said they use it to console themselves because of situations they found themselves. I think the government needs to urgently crackdown on the dealers and cool joints where this substance is taken,” he said.
Goni said government should not only ban the drug but also ensure implementation, adding that “the Federal Government must also block illegal means of getting codeine in outlets.”
Daily Trust gathered that many of the youth and housewives are still buying codeine through the black market at the rate of N1,500 per bottle.
“I am still getting codeine cough syrup but it is costly,” said a young still many dealers various areas of the woman addicted to the drug. “Some of us have stopped it for now because of the Ramadan, but I have friends that still take it every day. So the government can only stop us from getting it in open shops but we will still get it from other places,” she said under anonymity.
Some of the residents who spoke with Daily Trust said while banning of the substance is timely, security agencies must step up to ensure that the leakages are totally blocked.
A Professor of Psychiatry in University of Maiduguri, Prof. Abba Wakil, said the effects of the drugs on victims are numerous. He said a large number of patients are seen regularly at the Federal Nuero-Psychiatric Hospital, Maiduguri, adding that he attends to an average of 20 patients with issues of drug abuse in a month at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.
“The effects range from psychological, physical complications and social problems,” he said. “In addition, drugs damage organs of the body such as the brain, kidneys, liver, and the heart among others.”
He said they also caused social problems like marital disharmony that breaks marriages, disputes with relations, problems at the work place to mention but a few.
Prof. Abba said government must put mechanisms in place to stop the sale of hard drugs.
“I am concerned about the rate youths consume these drugs because I am the one who manages them. In the last nine years people, particularly women, have lost their children, family members, and husbands of most of them were brutally killed.
“Some of them were so depressed, and felt there are no options for them than taking drugs,” he added.