So yesterday, on her award winning television programme State of Affairs on GhOneTv, Nana Aba Anamoah aired the discussion we had at the Peace Makers Camp, an offshoot of Los Angeles Base (a stamping ground for the youth) in Nima to discuss the phenomenon that has eaten into the fiber and fabric of the nation; the use of Tramadol and other hard drugs by the youth. The discussion/interview was part of the media campaign spear-headed by that reputable outfit to build a strong opinion against the wanton abuse of hard drugs by the youth and subsequently curb the menacing situation.
Several months ago, one fine journalist from the stable, Nabil Rufai came to Nima and we took him round town for him to have a first-hand view of what was happening. We shared the brain of the Rhesus Monkey who stated that “my eyes are my oracle. Unless I see I will never believe. Seeing is believing.” So Nabil saw it for himself. Young boys and girls in one corner of town smoking their lives away, consuming their souls along and attenuating their bodies in the name of ‘shelling and goiling’; two terms they use to refer to ‘enjoyment’. Their form of enjoyment.
He subsequently made a documentary out of it after he went round the country conducting similar interviews to ascertain the intensity of havoc the abuse of drugs is wrecking on the nation. The video went viral and really made the citizenry aware of the harsher realities.
Last week, he contacted us to discuss a plan they have to further push the advocacy a notch higher and subsequently acquainted us with a colleague of his who gave her name as Serwaa Amihere; a very beautiful and adventure-loving lady. She came over to Nima and we scheduled to have the discussion on Monday, 30th April, 2018 at exactly 3 pm. This is the discussion I talked about in the first paragraph.
It was a revealing session as some of our youths shared their experiences with these drugs. Some stated their feelings and others confessing how terrible they felt/feel after intake of these drugs. To spice up the conversation and add a professional touch to it was a Medical Doctor from La, Dennis Bortey who provided massive information on these drugs and how menacing they are when abused. He really provided timeless pieces of information on the drugs, their action in the body system and their concomitant metabolic effect on the taker.
Some of the issues raised during the discussion boggles the mind and fascinates thought. It could best be described as ‘revealing’ or better still surprising. Some quick observations I made are worth noting down here.
First and foremost is the fact that Tramadol is a harmful drug. When abused, harmful even becomes an understament. It is malignant and worse case, lethal. It causes agitations, extreme nervousness interspersed with profound anxiety. In Nima we saw how one guy ‘got broken’ and fainted in one video that went viral on social media. What many do not know is that it causes the dreaded Morbus comitialis (also known as Epilepsy). The fight against it is therefore laudable, plausible and worth our while. However, we should be more tactful in order not to concentrate all our efforts on Tramadol alone leaving the drugs with interesting names (as revealed in the discussion). I have never heard of any drug called ‘Amnesia’. The Amnesia I know “is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage.” But we saw and heard from the discussion that it is one of the drugs our brothers abuse. One guy boldly stated that “when I smoke weed, I don’t think well. When I smoke amnesia, I’m simple.” Interesting.
Drugs like Kush, codeine, caffeine (one of the three most-widely consumed drugs in the world), Rophynol, Benilyn, Ritalin, Gjan-dushi (Hausa for red stone; they say it boosts sexual prowess), Amnesia, Shisha, Hashish, Diphex cough syrup are all abused by our youth. This shows that what we are up against is a multi-disciplinary discipline.
We must therefore brace ourselves up against it. We must know the profundity of the malady. This places us at an advantageous point to firmly arrest the situation. We should not forget the wisdom-filled advice of our elders that “if you can’t tell where the rain began to beat you, you will not know where the sun dried your body.”
Another very interesting observation is the warped belief our brothers have that weed is not a drug. It is herb they say. One even stated that “weed is a seed planted by the Almighty God. Why is it a drug?” This notion they hold manifested itself few months ago on Facebook when as a community we waged an attack on drugs because one of our youth who indulged in it found himself in a terrible situation. He had to undergo surgery. And the surgeon stated that the guy has his intestines battered and tattered. How the boy survived that situation is to him, miraculous. So the boy came out advising his fellow drug-addicts to drop that habit. They descended on us with volcanic fury. They claimed “weed is not a drug.” So we should fight ‘drugs’ and not weed. It is very worrying in the fact that “the first step towards knowledge is to know that we are ignorant.” In the same vain the first step to get to the light is to realize we are in stark darkness. They use that as an escapist approach to the issues. We can’t fight drugs without fighting the smoking of marijuana. It is impossible. In the community I come from, weed is the gateway drug into other drugs. Long before we became acquainted with these Tramadol and other substances, weed was the substance that begged for mercy out of the profundity of abuse.
According to Stedman’s Medical Dictionary, “ a drug is any substance (other than food that provides nutritional support) that when inhaled, injected, smoked, consumed, absorbed via a patch on the skin, or dissolved under the tongue causes a temporary physiological (and often psychological) change in the body.”
Not to sound as if we are in a classroom, we have Pharmaceutical drugs which are “taken to cure or ameliorate any symptoms of an illness or medical conditions.” We also have Psychoactive drugs “which affect the function of the Central Nervous System, altering perception, mood or consciousness.” And Cannabis (marijuana, weed) is a commonly used Psychoactive drug.
So to come debating ignorantly that weed is not a drug and its herb is to me the highest point of folly. And if you follow the comments below the GhOneTv Nima discussion on Facebook, you find some people labelling those who state that weed is a drug as ignorant. A case of the pot calling the kettle black.
Another observation is what was vividly stated by one of the discussants, Iddrisu Yussif also known as Deportee. He lamented the fact that community has no leaders. The leaders have woefully failed us. And this is what irritates me the most. The Prophet of Islam exemplified the fact for us very clearly that “there is no success for a people without leadership.” And the people who have an ignorant leadership are doomed. And unfortunately that is seemingly what we have in our community. A cursory look at the behaviors in the community indicates a complete breakdown of authority. Anyone could do whatever he wants and not even a hackle gets raised. Our chiefs are yet to prove the essence of their positions in the community. Every tribe in the community has two conflicting factions laying claim to its chieftaincy with no worthy acts to prove why they should be accorded the needed respect. Our religious leaders also pander to the whims and caprices of the rich and corrupt in the community. The only people who could save us are the politicians. But they are the worst of the lot.
Look at how the drug menace has engulfed the community. Teenagers have become grandfathers with their outlook. And hardened criminals are been bred from the community. We can’t deny the fact that these drugs play a role in their criminal activities. The highest point of folly to me was the very quarter the Member of Parliament organized a Soccer Gala for the youth in the community was the period three of our youth from the community were arrested separately for top robberies that scared the country. One was arrested for stealing a gun and trading it. Another was arrested for being the master-mind behind the robbery at Lapaz last July. He is accused of being the one who pulled the trigger. Another was slapped with a fifteen years with hard labor jail term for possessing a phone that was stolen after a brutal robbery.
In all of these, no politician looks concerned. Not even a word or any action was made by any politician of meaning. Even an empty initiative “MP’s Initiative against Drug Abuse” however humble could be considered as something worthwhile. The painful aspect is people who hitherto should know better supporting such political ‘goondaism.’ They do not seem to know how precarious our situation is. It is terribly worrying.
The drug menace is time-bomb and the efforts of GhOneTv should be complemented by all to ameliorate the situation. Every citizen must come out to support the fight. Every generation has a cause to champion. This is one of our generation’s cause. If we lose this battle, we will over-burden our children and grand-children; that is if they do not also fall victims.
The most percolating truth about this drug menace was stated by Abdul Rashid Zakari, the one in charge of Maniac Sportswear Inc. He stated that:
“Drugs have never in anyway added something to the lives of our brothers.
It made those handsome, UGLY
It made those strong, WEAK
It made those bright, DULL
It made those clean, SUSPICIOUS
It took those in shape to the OUT OF SHAPE space
It made those respectful, LAWLESS
It made those with potentials, HOPELESS
This is something every Zongo folk know, yet some HOMO SAPIENS from our side of the world are still I'm it.”
#SayNoToDrugs
#SayNoToWeed
#EndTramadolAbusewithGhOne
Maazi Okoro
[email protected]
NB: The Writer is a Youth-Activist and a Student of Knowledge
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