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Nigeria’s Drug Epidemic, By Dele Agekameh

by Premium Times
May 9, 2018
Reading Time: 6 mins read
0

There is no cure for demand for drugs, except reorientation, and rehabilitation in the case of addicts, but these are the exact two things that the country is poorest at.


In 1971, former President Richard Nixon of the United States declared a war on drugs at the height of the massive underground drug trade in the U.S. The message was simple, drugs were the number one enemy of the American public at the time, and the level of indulgence in it had become a national emergency.

The Nixon administration later collaborated with different foreign law enforcement agencies to bring down some of the biggest cartels. However, the most important driver of the vast market for narcotics and other drugs was demand, and that problem was never solved.

The same principle of demand and supply is now playing out in the well organised underground drug trade in Nigeria today. Successive administrations in Aso Rock have never prioritised the fight against drugs, helping the criminal drug enterprise in Nigeria to mature and blossom into international networks spanning many continents. This is why the surprise expressed by some at the scale of the codeine addiction problem recently unearthed by a BBC special report is baffling.

Nigeria has always had a regulation problem, no matter the sector. The citizenry does not trust the government’s intentions and sometimes, it is just too easy to ignore regulations. This may be the true devil behind the codeine crisis that has gotten us talking about drug addiction again.

Codeine is an active ingredient in many cough syrups sold over the counter and it ordinarily was available without any questions asked at the local pharmacy. The psychoactive features of codeine made it vulnerable to abuse by people looking for a cheap high.

As the demand for cough syrup containing codeine surged, there should have been warning signs by regulators, producers and even the pharmacists who all have a duty of care to the public. At the end of the day, it appears that profits were more important for those involved, including pharmaceuticals, as the BBC exclusive revealed.

Following the release of the report, at least two of the pharmaceutical companies involved have sacked their staff that were caught up in the investigation, but there is simply not enough accountability on the part of the companies. Large amounts of codeine products were moved into an identifiably addicted market with no questions asked. It is doubtful that executives of these companies were not in the know because large amounts of products were moving to ‘customers’ that had formed relationships with the company.

Nigeria has always approached the drug problem as a crime which must be fought by over-enthusiastic law enforcement officers. Truly, the distributors and dealers of illicit drugs of all kinds are committing crimes against the country, but the users, especially addicts, are victims and must be treated as such.


The codeine issue only scratches the surface of a much bigger drug problem in the country. Many are addicted to other stimulants and depressants like cocaine, heroine, marijuana, tramadol and other drugs. The codeine epidemic was an open, unquestioned indulgence too until health complications arose, especially amongst the children of the rich and powerful. Whether the country can effectively tackle the actual problem of addiction is left to anyone’s imagination. The recent ban on codeine will only help the black market and smugglers who always find ways to get through law enforcement checkpoints. This way, it will not take away the demand, which is the major problem.

Nigeria has always approached the drug problem as a crime which must be fought by over-enthusiastic law enforcement officers. Truly, the distributors and dealers of illicit drugs of all kinds are committing crimes against the country, but the users, especially addicts, are victims and must be treated as such.

Even in the BBC report, we see how people are treated like hardened criminals and chained to trees. The experience in places like that may harden a person’s mind and draw them even closer to the drugs they should be weaned from because most drug users seek an escape from the harsh realities of life, like the conditions that the addicts featured in the BBC report were exposed to.

Rehabilitation has never been a strong suit in the Nigerian corrections sector and the codeine addicts need more rehabilitation than they need a government ban that will only lead to poorer decisions and criminality to keep up with the spike in prices that occur after a ban.

The other angle that may not have been explored is the medical implication of banning codeine. The ingredient is used in cough syrups for a reason and a blanket ban may have casualties because, medically speaking, certain drugs are more suited for some persons as opposed to others.

If there is a difficulty in regulating the sale and distribution of the cough syrups, what success can the government have in stifling a booming black market dealing in all things from batteries to human beings? There are no easy answers, that is why rushed moves like a blanket ban can lead to even more problems down the line.

There are other issues of importance in the codeine problem particularly. The matter of religion, which is always a controversial topic in Nigeria again plays a part in the rise of codeine addiction. It is not a co-incidence that majority of the codeine cough syrups are distributed in the North, in places like Kano, Bauchi, Jigawa etc. The predominant religion in the north has always frowned at the intake of alcohol and any intoxicant. The disapproval however has become a fairly serious ban on these products in parts of the North, with the Hisbah police and other similar religious law enforcement agencies administering punishment to defaulters.

In the final analysis, it is good that drug abuse and addiction are on the front pages of the news again, but any optimism one has will most likely be short-lived when it becomes clear that little has changed, except the black-market price of codeine. We should, instead, engage in conversations about the many other drugs that are consumed daily…


In a country where stress comes easily, many young and old people in the North have convinced themselves that indulging in an otherwise legal product for recreational benefits may not be a direct violation of their religious beliefs; hence the appeal of codeine amongst Northerners.

Popular culture also contributes to the rise of drug abuse in the country. The musicians and other entertainers that hold young people spellbound with their lavish lifestyles are some of the biggest drug users in any society. They are watched closely by teens in their most vulnerable years and their influence crosses numerous borders.

The mix of foreign celebrities and local ones who sing about doing drugs or display their drug using lifestyle can also be apportioned some blame in the growing epidemic. The fact that they also do not hide their irresponsible lifestyle choices and meet no consequences is an encouragement to impressionable young minds to follow in the trend. One survey revealed that younger people tend to take less alcohol and will rather indulge in marijuana or abuse legal medical solutions like the codeine cough syrups that have led to the latest outrage in Nigeria.

The codeine problem may be a cultural or administrative problem, or simply a consequence of bad leadership. Blanket bans are lazy responses to more localised problems and they seldom lead to any solutions.

The country can live without codeine cough syrup quite alright, but the danger is that there may be complacency on the part of the decision makers who may operate under the impression that the problem has been cut at its root – which will be untrue. There is no cure for the demand for drugs, except reorientation, and rehabilitation in the case of addicts, but these are the exact two things that the country is poorest at.

In the final analysis, it is good that drug abuse and addiction are on the front pages of the news again, but any optimism one has will most likely be short-lived when it becomes clear that little has changed, except the black-market price of codeine. We should, instead, engage in conversations about the many other drugs that are consumed daily under the cover of darkness and sometimes in the open and why people are drawn to them in the first place.

Rich debate on these things, followed by reasoned measures taken will start us off on the long road to recovery. The pain of addiction is a national pain that Richard Nixon could feel those many years ago in the US. We need our leaders to be in tune with the people on this issue now!

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