Kano is Nigeria’s Drug Abuse Hot Spot

Tuesday, November 04, 2014 0
Category: Nigerian National News


Contributed by Emma Layton

In Nigeria, the abuse of all types of drugs has increased drastically over the past decade. The nation’s youth constitutes the group most at risk from serious problems associated with addiction. Kano, the largest city in northern Nigeria, has the highest rate of drug abuse in the country according to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) figures for seizures of drugs, convictions of drug dealers and arrests of drug addicts. 

In Kano State, 37% of the population are drug abusers. The NDLEA has warned of serious consequences to society if the task of destroying the culture of drug abuse and its supply chain does not immediately begin to bear fruit.


Saving a generation
NDLEA Parades Suspected Drug Dealers
Garba Ahmadu, the NDLEA commander in Kano, said: ‘All hands must be on deck to change if we are to save our upcoming generation from ruin. The use of hard drugs, especially among the young, has become a real social menace and cuts across all social strata, with children from both rich and poor backgrounds deeply into it.’
 
Nigeria has made great progress in stemming the supply of drugs with high profile arrests of traffickers, seizures of drugs, the destruction of cannabis farms and closures of laboratories used for the clandestine manufacture of drugs. In 2013, 8,324 men and 529 women were investigated after being suspected of drug trafficking. Mrs Roli Bode George, the NDLEA Director General, said that her mission was to vigorously pursue the Agency’s vision of a drug-free society. She stressed the importance of effective educational programmes to reduce the demand for drugs, which would run alongside continued efforts to cut off supplies, and she said that ‘these must be elaborate, involving families, schools, communities and the media.’ This is a problem that does not discriminate between rich and poor, old and young. Peer pressure is one of the major factors that need to be addressed in any effective programme aimed at controlling drug abuse, and mothers must realise that from a very early age children need to be watched carefully for deviant behaviour and be protected from the influence of older children involved with drugs.

NDLEA BURNING CANABIS
A war on many fronts
The abuse of drugs is not confined to urban areas, and the NDLEA is working alongside the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the European Union (EU) to ensure that services to help addicts and users are also available in rural areas and are up to international standards. The UNODC’s core values, which include the rigorous analysis of evidence to create effective policies for individual states, assistance in forming legislation to combat drug crime and help in setting up programmes in the field, have given hope that progress can be made in fighting the persistent problem of drug abuse in Nigeria.
 
Cannabis and Indian hemp are the most commonly abused drugs in Nigeria, although heroin, cocaine, amphetamines, ephedrine and ketamine are also brought in by the traffickers, and there is a range of products that are more easily obtained and are cheaper and not illegal, such as organic solvents, cough syrups and horse stimulants, all of which are unpredictable in their effects and can be highly dangerous. The so-called ‘bath salts’ contain the active ingredients methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDVP) and cathinone—the latter is a stimulant similar to amphetamine and which is also found in Khat. 

Bath salts are sold as a synthetic hallucinogen, a cheaper substitute for cocaine or LSD and which can produce extreme paranoia and violence in the user. An essential part of the drug abuse problem is that people who want to take drugs as an escape for their lives will reach for whatever is available, ignoring the health risks.

One city’s struggle
Kano was once famous for its tanneries and textile manufacturers, but many factories have been forced to close in the past twenty years because of problems with the power supply and increasing competition from cheap imported goods from Asia. The arrival of Boko Haram and Sharia Law drove many non-Muslim traders out of the city. However, Kano’s population has been swelled by the influx of over three million people over the past decade. The growth of small illegal businesses, many of which the authorities have claimed were a front for criminal activity, has prompted the Kano Urban Planning and Development Authority (KNUDPA) to begin a programme of forced demolition and relocation, although no money has been offered for businesses to rebuild.

Drug Abuse Cuts Across all Age Groups
What was once a bustling metropolis is now characterized by deserted, run down streets and dusty, secluded alleyways where drug deals are made and gangs of kids hang around smoking Indian hemp instead of going to school. The clampdown on any form of economic activity can only worsen the situation.

The unemployment rate in Kano is now the highest in Nigeria, with around two-thirds of the population out of work. The financial burden on families is compounded by the high birth rate. There is also a high rate of family break up and divorce. Many families end up on the streets, where the whole range of illegal drugs and mind altering substances are available, and children are inevitably most at risk of being sucked into the world of the drug addict and into a downward spiral of abuse, leading to wasted lives and early death. The opening of a drug abuse rehabilitation centre in September 2013 has offered some hope for Kano, and the state government has begun to realize that offering treatment instead of jail is the only way to create a better future for both the city and its people; however, for a truly secure future where hope truly can replace poverty and despair, this has to work alongside measures to restore the city’s infrastructure and economy.

Sources

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