Awareness, rehabilitation, critical to taming drug abuse – Ohanyere

Barr. Anthony Nkem Ohanyere is an accomplished writer, who has written 17 books so far. He is also a lawyer, a civil servant and the former commander of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Enugu state. Through his books, he has made significant contributions towards drug abuse control and addressed macro-economic and social issues affecting the country.

In this interview with Business Hallmark Newspaper, Tumininu Ojelabi Hassan, he explained several causes of drug abuse amongst Nigerian youths. He shared his thoughts on the efforts of the NDLEA to reduce the rate of drug abuse in the country and he suggested preventive measures the government, NDLEA and other relevant institutions need to adopt to achieve drug abuse control in the country.

Excerpts:

Based on your experience, what would you say are the causes of drug abuse amongst Nigerian youths?

There are several causes of drug abuse. The background of a person and upbringing go a long way in being responsible for their behaviour. For instance, in some homes, when children wake up in the morning, their parents devote time to teach them some morals and pray in the morning before stepping out. In so many homes today, praying in the house is a luxury. It is during prayer that you inculcate morals and values in the children. When the parents have refused to teach them, these children go to school and pick baggage from the society simply because the parents do not care and probably because the parents are career people. They come back in the evening and there is little or no time to observe the children. You don’t know what they do and what they don’t do. The child then goes out there and picks a character that isn’t customary with the family.

This leads to a situation whereby the parents start asking the child where he/she learnt the habit. Someone outside decided to fill the vacuum the parents refused to fill with rubbish.

Another cause is the society that has become permissive. In today’s society, children get away with a lot of things because we have refused to instill discipline. In the western world for instance, child freedom/child rights is introduced at an early stage of childhood. A child can’t be flogged or reprimanded. The child grows up while being too conscious of his rights, therefore the discipline necessary for the proper upbringing of a child won’t be there. This child grows up to become wild and untamed. When a child enjoys too much freedom, this will mislead a child. Freedom is not good for a child, instead he needs guidance and control. This is why in the western world, there is a high rate of child delinquency which comes in different ways. Either by perversion which can lead to drug addiction. Another cause is Peer pressure, which takes us back to the issue of moral education at home. When you have taught your child very well in the morning, when this child goes out, he won’t do certain things not because you will pressurize the child not to do them, but they have gotten used to not doing certain things.

Those that are not properly groomed easily pick bad habits from their peer group due to lack of fear. They easily absolve peer pressure from outside so as to impress their friends, in order not to appear weak or feel they don’t belong, while trying to belong they pick wrong habits including drug abuse. Another cause is the “Wanna be” attitude, when a child has good upbringing, he will have self confidence. Self confidence means taking responsibility for his actions. A child without good upbringing doesn’t take responsibility for his actions. His decision making is determined by other people. When he goes out, the drug he can’t take at home will be given to him by someone else, he will be convinced to take it and he wouldn’t say no I can’t take it because he can’t take responsibility for his action. In the society, the badly behaved children are usually looked up to. Another issue responsible for drug abuse in Nigeria can be attributed to school dropout syndrome. In 2014, a report by the United Nations (UN) revealed that they were about 10 million out of school children in Nigeria and it has increased since then. School is the constituency of the children.

If you are not in your constituency, you will become a hibernator. When children are not in school while others are in school, neither are they working, then what are they doing? They become vagabonds, wanderers and for these sets of people, anything goes. This is also responsible for increase in the drug population in Nigeria. A UN report revealed that about 1 out of 10 Nigerians are into drugs which is severe. There are also habitual drug users which starts from self medication. For instance, someone who takes Panadol for any slightest pain, consequently gets used to it. Even when they don’t feel body pains, they take panadol. Amongst the females, in the process of trying to use pain relief medication for menstrual cramps, they take drugs in higher doses to relieve the pain.

The dangerous effect of drug is that it is captivating and enslaving, at a point it takes control of the body such that the body becomes stable only with drugs, this leads to drug dependency which is Drug abuse. Another cause of drug abuse is the habit of the parents, when a father drinks or smokes, it will take only the grace of God for the child not to pick up the habit. A child picks up this habit when they are sent to buy either cigarette or alcohol for the parent, they are usually curious to know what the parent is enjoying. When people indulge in the use of hard drugs, it is difficult to advise them against it. The feeling of euphoria is so sweet to them, It gives them pleasure. Another cause is the cultural reason. There are drugs called social drugs, which are socially permitted like alcohol and cigarettes. These things have inherent side effects but because the society has accepted them, when you attend a social function or a wedding, if these things are not available, the occasion hasn’t started. An alcoholic doesn’t start alcoholism with one carton of beer in a day, it starts from the first glass of alcohol. A chain smoker starts with the first stick of cigarette. Social drugs are also called the Gateway Drugs, they are the entry point into drug abuse and can lead one gradually into addiction. Our culture also contributes to the use of hard drugs. Also, there are many people who get addicted by mistake. For instance, a case of a boy who fell ill and was using medication based on doctor’s prescription. The next time he fell ill, he couldn’t afford to go to the hospital. However, he took note of the name of the drugs and then he begins self medication. At a point, he increased the dosage with the intention of getting better. With time, the sickness wasn’t the issue any longer, but the medication he was using became the sickness for him.

In Nigeria, a lot of people are involved in self medication which makes them prone to developing serious issues. Some of these pain relief medications like Panadol and Paracetamol have heroine content which is very minimal such that it can’t have a negative effect on a person, but when they are taken over a long period of time. It begins to cause negative effect. When people use hard drugs, affording these drugs become a problem which leads them to do questionable things. The crave for these drugs makes them desperate to do anything and that’s why people do unspeakable things like inhaling ammonia gas from the septic tank, inhaling rubber solutions, nail polish remover, scooping spirogyra from the gutter to smoke. The wrong seems right to them. Another thing that has led to the worsening situation of drug abuse in Nigeria is the, I don’t care attitude of the Nigerian government’.

NDLEA was concentrating on drug enforcement rather than rehabilitation and drug prevention. They were more interested in arresting people who supply drugs in order to reduce the drug supply in the country. It is called ‘Drug Supply Reduction Strategy’. While doing this, they neglected the Drug Demand Reduction Strategy due to their erroneous belief that unavailability can lead to inaccessibility to drugs. All the efforts they made to stop the inflow of drugs failed. It’s difficult to avoid drugs, that’s why Drug eradication isn’t the solution because the use of illicit drugs can’t be eradicated, it can only be controlled. Illicit drugs have their benefits in the society, for example anesthesia used during surgeries is a product of heroine and cocaine. Every year, the UN approves a certain quantity of heroine and cocaine for pharmaceutical productions which are usually audited. The unfortunate thing is that there’s the window of abuse, these leakages make it possible for people to buy cocaine and heroine for trafficking. It’s difficult for the UN to eradicate drugs as this will make the society primitive. It is a very dicey situation for the world.

Aside the causes you stated, can drug abuse amongst Nigerian youths be attributed to poverty, unemployment or simply lack of indiscipline?

Poverty may influence drug abuse. Criminality is common in slums unlike places like Ikoyi and Victoria Island. To some extent, poverty one way or the other helps to breed crime. However, we can liken this to when someone blames poverty for stealing. No! People who are rich also steal. I usually tell people to revoke the fact that poverty is the reason people commit crime. It is an aberration. It is more about the moral content of that person. The propensity theory states that a man can’t be labeled a thief until he’s given the opportunity to steal when no one will see him. When he ignores the temptation to steal in this situation, then you can say that the person doesn’t have the propensity to steal.

There are people who would steal in such a situation, such people have the propensity to steal but haven’t had the opportunity. When you say poverty is responsible for drug abuse, the people involved must have had the propensity and tendency. I grew up in an estate situated in an excluded area. When I was in secondary school, my friends used to smoke Indian hemp, they pressurized me to smoke but I refused to. Before we completed secondary school, two of those people became mad. Till today, I have never smoked cigarettes let alone Indian hemp. It’s more about the inner man. This didn’t stop me from being friends with them but I had a strong will. Children should be encouraged to have strong will, to be able to say No and stand by it, say Yes and stand by it.

Does the high rate of unemployment in the country not contribute to the rate of drug abuse?

To some extent, it does. This is as a result of frustration. In a bid to forget their sorrow, they use drugs. However, the joy they derive from this is temporary. Taking the drug doesn’t give the person employment, it is a cosmetic remedy. When the effect of the drug fades, the problem is still there. If we attribute it to unemployment, there isn’t serious unemployment in Britain, America or Canada, why do youths in these countries take hard drugs? In these societies, the government provides for them, the unemployed are given sustenance wage. Despite all these, people are into drugs. Let me also add this, drug addiction could be genetic. For instance, in a family with the issue of alcoholism, sometimes it’s discovered that the great-grandparents or grandparents were alcoholics. If a child from that family doesn’t have strong will, he may degenerate like the great-grandparents and grandparents but he can overcome it with strong will.

Do you think enforcing severe punishment will reduce the rate of drug abuse?

There is a saying that habit dies hard. If people have cultivated the habit of taking hard drugs, talking about severe punishment is a waste of time. The purpose of severe punishment is for deterrence but in the case of drug abuse it doesn’t constitute deterrence. The UN studies on the effects of drugs on people over a long period of time led to them deciding that, those who take hard drugs should not be seen as criminals. The state shouldn’t talk about punishing them, instead they should be seen as victims. They should be called Victims of drugs rather than Criminals.

According to the UN, those people should be given whatever help they need to recover because they are in a situation beyond their control. This is the reason people who use hard drugs are not charged to court. If you are found with the quantity of hard drugs you can only smoke, you won’t be charged to court. You are charged to court only when you are found with hard drugs in commercial quantity. This is one of the problems drug enforcement agency have with the society. When NDLEA arrests smokers of hard drugs, they take them to their office and release them after 24 hours. People would start saying NDLEA collected money from these people, that’s why they released them. This is not true. People are not aware of the fact that, drugs users can’t be charged to court unless they are caught with hard drugs in large quantities meant for commercial purposes. UN suggests that people who use hard drugs deserve sympathy and help not punishment. When they are taken to court and sentenced to the prison without rehabilitation, when they are released, they continue this habit because nothing has changed in their lives.

What is the effort of NDLEA towards stopping the importation of illicit drugs?

The mistake NDLEA has been making over the years is believing that when the supply of drugs is controlled, the abuse of drugs will automatically be controlled. NDLEA has positions in all the international airports to control the inflow of drugs, they have commands in all the sea ports and in every state of the federation. There is also the area command which for instance can be up to 6 in a state to control the trafficking of drugs. In spite of everything they are doing, these drugs continue to come because people have their own ingenious ways of concealing them. Some people swallow these drugs, irrespective of the fact that they will face the consequences which includes the drugs exploding in their body and death. There is no way to absolutely control everything that enters into the country through the sea port. Some people even go as far as concealing it in processed wood. Also, Indian hemp production exploded in Nigeria such that the country has become a drug producing country. There are drug farms everywhere. NDLEA has been destroying these drug farms, but only the ones discovered can be destroyed. In recent times, we now have clandestine laboratories in Nigeria. NDLEA has been discovering these clandestine laboratories where illicit drugs are manufactured. Drugs like Methamphetamine are produced there. Speaking about importation of drugs, some of these hard drugs are imported in minimal grams for pharmaceutical purposes, but mischievous people import high grams of these drugs. It is very difficult to fully control the supply of drugs.

If the supply of drugs cannot be fully controlled, why is NDLEA not creating massive awareness on drug abuse especially in tertiary institutions?

I usually say the aphorism ‘Prevention is better than cure’ is most appropriate in drug abuse. This can only be achieved through public enlightenment and awareness. Unfortunately, public awareness is capital intensive. Imagine running jingles and adverts all the time, radio stations and TV stations won’t air/show the jingles and adverts for free. Creating billboards, delivering lectures and organsing rallies cost money and require human capacity. People are needed for these programmes to create awareness across the nation. Sometime ago, the security officers of Nigerian universities and tertiary institutions had a conference and I was invited to deliver lecture. When I went there, I told them the university is the melting point of every society. When you go there, you see all manner of flaws and societies. Why is it difficult to have a drug abuse society in universities? The school authorities are not encouraging the people to establish such type of society. Since Mohammed Marwa became the chairman of NDLEA, there has been an improvement as regards the drug awareness situation.

Earlier, you talked about United Nations suggesting that drug users shouldn’t be criminalised, but should be given help needed to recover, does NDLEA take drug users to rehabilitation centers after arresting them?

After arresting and profiling users of drugs, they receive counseling at the NDLEA office and they are released afterwards. The law in Nigeria prohibits detaining people after 24 hours without charging them to court or offering them bail and the NDLEA has to obey the constitution. They just counsel them within the 24 hours but it’s not possible to stop a habit of 10 years in one day. Also, in Nigeria there are very few rehabilitation centers. In my last book, I addressed this issue. I said, Government established center for people with leprosy, eye clinics, there are also orthopaedic hospitals for bone related issues, there are psychiatric hospitals for those with mental issues but there is no hospital in Nigeria for drug rehabilitation. The ones established by private individuals are very expensive. Taking users of hard drugs to the psychiatric hospital is a wrong remedy because workers in the psychiatric hospital are only knowledgeable in the treatment of mental issues and psychosis. The unfortunate thing is that in the Nigerian society, they equate drug abuse with madness. They are not the same. What causes madness is entirely different from what causes drug abuse. You are making a mistake when you take someone with a drug abuse situation to a psychiatric hospital. According to the UN’s standard, before someone can be admitted to a rehabilitation center, they need to undergo a medical process and interview. When it is established that the person’s case is beyond drug abuse, then he can be referred to the psychiatric hospital. When a person with mental illness is taken to the rehabilitation center, no result will be achieved. Likewise, when you take someone with a drug abuse situation to the psychiatric hospital, you don’t achieve results.

What are the measures the government, NDLEA and other relevant institutions need to adopt to reduce the rate of drug abuse among youths in the country?

What I wrote in my book is that, what we should have done yesterday, we are trying to do today. It is better to do it now because by tomorrow, it will get out of control. Drug abuse awareness and establishment of rehabilitation centers should have been done years ago. Government has never budgeted for drug abuse control in Nigeria.

There are about 14 million Nigerians involved in drug abuse and it will continue to increase. In 2005, a research conducted by UN revealed that 7.5% of the world’s population are into drug abuse. They raised an alarm then, stating that if something drastic isn’t done , the world is in danger of extinction in future owing to drug abuse. The predominant population of these 7.5% were the youths. In Nigeria, the drug abuse percentage is 14%, meaning it has exceeded the UN’s danger line. It is best to take the issue of drug abuse control seriously. We have tried enforcement for too long, we have tried drug supply reduction for too long. In order to achieve results, we should establish rehabilitation centers in different places.

Every state must have a standard rehabilitation center just like we have hospitals and clinics, so we can recover the large population already endangered. We should also engage in intensive awareness campaign to stop those that haven’t gone into drug abuse from going into it. However, the Nigerian society is very funny. For instance, when a commissioner of police is doing everything possible to reduce crime, by other means other than arresting people and charging them to court, to people the one always arresting people is the one working effectively.

The ones preventing the occurrence of crimes, the silent operators are usually not recognised. When the NDLEA comes out to say they arrested about 1000 people and convicted 800 people, people will applaud them other than when they say there are no arrests in their commands as a result of drug control programmes and drug awareness programmes, people will say they are not working hard. The main thing is that people should intensify efforts to prevent drug abuse in the society. Drug awareness shouldn’t just be for drug victims alone, it should be for the whole society so that parents will begin to teach their children at home.

The awareness should be general, it shouldn’t be just the responsibility of NDLEA, everyone will be an evangelist in this situation. In church, they are seeking the soul of men, this soul is the issue of righteousness and sin. They forget that you must have the mental capacity before you can differentiate between sin and righteousness. If you don’t teach the youths that drug is dangerous for them to avoid indulging in drug abuse, how can you make sense out of them? How can you make heaven candidates amongst them? One other problem is that the society hasn’t accepted this issue. The moment they see a drug abuse victim, they say ‘that’s a mad man’. They believe it is incurable and they don’t make efforts to help the person recover. When you go to the rural areas for drug abuse control, you need a platform like the traditional rulers. When you meet them, they ask for money because they believe the government has given you a lot of money to run the project instead of assembling the people and giving you the platform to speak to the people. Unfortunately, social media doesn’t participate in this crusade.

In the 1920s and 1930s, crime and gangsterism was prevalent in America. The government did all they could to stop these but they couldn’t. They had to set up a study, the study came up with a recommendation that government would engage in an enlightenment programme. This enlightenment was done by sponsoring cowboy films where actors committed crime but were apprehended eventually. This was to teach the society that whatever crime you commit, the law will definitely catch up with you. That was their way of conveying messages to people involved in gangsterism to desist from doing it. In Nigeria, social media should be used as a tool to teach against drug abuse and make users of hard drugs understand that it leads to self destruction.