₦airaland Forum

EMMAUGOH:
cough syrup, tube gum and codeine and tramadol are not hard drug... Same way beer is not a drug..

Since tribalism wont allow u think i leave it for you lots to keep beating around the Bush.... Hope u know there are more dangerous elements inhaled in the north other than what your news agencies deems fit to portray.

There is codeine and tramadol in every Chemist shop down south, how many have been reported for abuse.

If you cant deal with your youth lust over highness stop disturbing businesses men who by law are doing their trade legally, answering to demand with supply.

AlwaysUltraPad:
what are you saying?

Alcohol is the most dangerous drug in the world.
https://www.unilad.co.uk/drugs/according-to-scientists-this-is-the-most-dangerous-drug-in-the-world/

Omofunaab2:
Lol, Ode leleyi sha

We are talking about those selling drugs without the permission to do so. Or who do you think the Aboki was referring to?

Fatherofdragons:
No igbo will spell igbo as ibo

nextstep:
To my brothers all over Nigeria: to my Hausa brothers; to my Igbo brothers; my Yoruba; to my Igala, Fulani, Itshekiri, Anioma, and so many much more, please lend me your eyes and at least read to what I have to say with an open mind.

This is the second "dog-whistle" I've heard this week about this issue. For those who don't know, the phrase "Dog-whistle" in politics is a messaging technique employing coded language that appears to mean one thing to the general population but has an additional, different, or more specific resonance for a targeted subgroup (wikipedia)

We're here arguing about demand and supply. One side argues that Igbos too love money to care about people's welfare, while the other side argues that without demand, there'd be no supply. Some abuse one side of being hapless drug addicts, some others abuse the other side of being heartless mercenaries, and others are drawing straw man arguments and slinging mud. Both sides may be happy to score cheap points (as if this was debate team) but are missing the crucial issue, and the looming danger.

I'm from Asaba area. Let me just put it out there so whoever wants to discredit my opinion can latch unto something and use it to abuse me.

It wasn't so long ago that our Igbo brothers were selling so much fake drugs that they put the lives of millions of children, their relatives, and loved ones in jeopardy. To quote Dr. Dora Akunyili (an Igbo woman by the way) "so many of (her) countrymen and women (were) fighting killer diseases like malaria and tuberculosis with little more than sugar syrup and chalk tablets, cynically packaged to look like the real thing"

The majority of people who threatened her life in order to continue their line of business were mostly - it must be said - Igbo. This is a fact. Without her brave and selfless struggle - which sees that even pure water sachets have an approval stamp - a lot more people would be dead or barely living with badly damaged bodies. We also owe a lot to our government and the many men and women from all over Nigeria (civil servants, media people, traders, the general public) who tamed this menace.

We have to condemn all those who sell things that harm any member of our country (whether hard drugs or abused prescription medicine), because we are all in this together. An entire generation of our youths are being decimated in the core North. For those who are defending drug dealers because of tribalism or ethnicity don't give a damn about whose lives they destroy - even yours and your loved ones. They don't even care about the lives of people in their family, or their friends', so far as they get paid. Criminals, like corrupt politicians, come from all parts of Nigeria, and the irony has always been that: those who defend them, blind to the wrong they do, are the very ones who suffer.

Now to the dog-whistle, which a lot of us appear to be deaf to:

Our children are massively into drugs because there is massive, unceasing and incessant supply. We must staunch the supply. [/b]Then review our laws. Then detoxify our children. Or simultaneously and concurrently.


Pan-Arewa, the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), Northern CAN, Usman Bugaje’s Arewa Research and Development Project (ARDP), the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) and those [i]Arewa October Youths must [b]just have to collaborate and do something in unison, for once.[/i]

We just have to do it, and may Allah make it easy for us.

Now, I'm not a fortune-teller, nor a prophet with divine vision, but I can tell if it's going to rain by how dark the clouds look. And I'm saying though it may look sunny now, the clouds are gathering. Are we prepared to deal with a horde* of drugged-up youths who have been given orders to wipe some of us out? We can debate about demand-side or supply-side economics, but when the horde hears and responds to the whistle, all they will know is that "the suppliers must be wiped out", and to be clear - any Igbo person is fair game.

Yes, we have brave Igbo generals here on Nairaland and social media who will boast that "we can handle anything, we are not afraid of anybody", yet will run at the first sign of personal danger, leaving the more vulnerable to face death alone. I don't mean to abuse anybody but I think a certain General* should have died with honor in defense of his ideals and his people... let me just leave it at that.

I wish I had a bigger platform to make this appeal: we have to condemn drug trafficking no matter who is doing it. There are many other ways to make a good living, by making things and offering services that benefit us. It does us no good to defend activity that will turn around and bite us, or a loved one. We must be our brothers' keeper no matter where he is from because it's only then we can prosper as a nation of black people.

*To my northern brothers, please don't take offense at the word horde... I only mean it within the context of a group of people who are under the influence of drugs.

*To my Igbo brothers, please don't take offense at my opinions of the General in question. Oh, and to those who think that splitting the country will solve all our problems: some criminal Igbo traders happily sell counterfeit drugs and parts to Igbo people too.

LZAA:
YorubaAssasin opened a new account today to display igbophobia
cc imhotep,onyeoga

NdiaraIGBO:
You are IBO according to the constitution of Nigeria.

The other Nigerians should start working collaboratively to REIN in the IBOs!

Every where the ANIMALS go they cause a lot of problems.

imhotep:
Even Forest Whitaker agrees that Igbo amaka.
YorubaAssasin is still dulling himself upandan

igbodefender:
People should be disuaded from buying drugs when they aren't sick. Drug dealers should be dissuaded from selling prescription drugs. A law should be passed to disuadw both the drug taker and the dealer.

No one should come and blame a particular ethnic group here. It us a societal problem.

omoharry:
one of the best quote ever. I though the op was taking above cocaine and heroin.. it was later I got to know the drugs he meant were normal cough syrup which these people abuse to get high.. I think there should be a legislation for such drugs to be sold only strictly by doctor prescription... that should have been the op concern and not the pharmacist selling drugs.. how in the world will he know that such drugs won't be taken for the right reason.

Roger3D:
I am sick and tired of the hypocritical ‘political correctness’ and intimidation by way of claims to ‘hate speech’ in the matter of drugs addiction among Arewa youths. We are gradually losing our youths to drugs - and the gradual has since become rapid. We must therefore call a spade a spade - and whatever a shovel will say, let it!

The other day I visited an inner-city neighbourhood in Kano City for a midday meeting. The young boys I saw all appeared stoned, high, drugged. When they spoke (“A gama lafiya Honourable!” and “Me za mu samu ne Yallabai?” etc), they eliminated all doubt about their state of mind; the slurred speech, the gait, the mannerism, the unkempt hair, the I-don’t-care-attitude all combined to tell me this is, sadly, an almost lost generation.

Over the past year, I have attended dozens of conferences and roundtables on drugs. Over the same period, I have heard our elite and leaders speak on this epidemic, pandemic, that has almost completely annihilated a whole generation. All speakers condemn, cajole, appeal, warn, but none seems to be addressing the crux of the matter - SUPPLY!

And that’s what I’m going to do today as I did recently at yet another roundtable where I was quoted to have blamed a minority within a certain ethnic group of being the major suppliers of drugs to OUR, not THEIR, youths. Our youths, and us, are under siege wallahi. And the earlier we jettison all fear of Diaporic Curses by Loud-Mouthed Internet Warriors, the better for us.

Let me say this - I am Hausa-Fulani. Despite my Fulani-ness, I have time without number condemned so-called herdsmen who are mainly Fulani AND who are involved in criminal activities. I again condemn them and call on them to fear God and recant. So, if herders are Fulani, and that’s not hate speech, I see no reason why the identity of drugs traffickers who are destroying our youths cannot be said. Every ethnic group should be courageous enough to do as much - condemn the criminal elements among them. And that’s not asking for too much.

As an academician and journalist, it comes easy, by Allah’s Leave, to be able to do some little research and follow-throughs on this matter. The following are a few illustrations:

“The Katsina State Command of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA…said it had…impounded a trailer in Dutsenreme area of Funtua loaded with 24,000 bottles…of cough syrup with codeine in a trailer from Onitsha to Funtua…Among those arrested are Christian Chukwuma and Obiora Chukwuma…”

“A hard drug (Intoxicant) supplier, identified as Stanley Arinze, has been arrested by the Kano Police Command for trying to smuggle hard drugs...The tablets worth N19, 200,000 were intercepted after being concealed inside LG Plasma TV cartons in a trailer along Kano Eastern bye-pass. The man, a native of Anambra State, reportedly supplies Tramadol tablets to Kano and Republic of Niger…” and “Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja…sentenced a man, Mr. Anthony Chidi Ikeab[/b]a, to 14 years imprisonment for unlawfully importing 1.782 kg of cocaine into the country…”

“Officials of the…NDLEA at the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos prevented two Nigerians from execution in Malaysia…[b]Onovo Sylvester Henry…and Ufiri Onyedika Emmanuel…were caught attempting to smuggle 2.575kg of methamphetamine to Malaysia where drug offences attract capital punishment. Nnamdi John Kingsley was nabbed while taking delivery of the television sets containing heroin…“ I have also asked in previous articles: “Where is that container of tramadol intercepted a few months ago by a team of patriotic customs officers destined for No. 3, Festing Road, Sabon Gari, Kano? Where are the arrested and named traffickers Mr. Stanley Arinze, Mr. Onuchukwu Benjamin Owulu and Mr. Igboanugo Vincent Tochukwu?”

and And then, if this doesn’t alarm you, nothing else will, ever! “NAFDAC has intercepted 33 containers of tramadol which were being conveyed to a yet-to-be-ascertained location in Nigeria…The disclosure was made by the NAFDAC Director-General, Prof Adeyeye, in Abuja…”

Arewa, are we also drugged? Why would we just sit down and watch people from elsewhere just come and destroy our youths in broad daylight? Why is nobody following up on these traffickers? Where are the prosecutors and the judges who are alleged to be conniving and using technicalities to release - purportedly on bail - these traffickers who more often than not are never arrested again?

I know some economics. I even know many economists - they of the ‘on the one hand…and on the other hand…’ In fact, I even spoke at a Dinner by BUK Economics Students Class of 2008 just last week. I know inflation and what a small salary can’t do; I know scarcity and glut, in layman’s language ‘over-supply’.

My little knowledge tells me supply trumps demand. Elementary economics, as explained on Wikipedia, says “When supply of a product goes up, the price of a product goes down and demand for the product can rise because it costs less.” Key words here: “Costs Less”. We, therefore, must staunch the supply.

It is good that “Two draft bills have been initiated for legislation to tackle drug abuse in the country...The proposed bills are the National Drug Control Bill and National Mental Health Bill…”

This is all good. The Senate President and his colleagues were in Kano recently, and they promised to do something about drugs abuse. Apparently, they are keeping to their words. But is this enough?

The Senate President should listen to the call by NAFDAC DG Prof Adeyeye: “The National Assembly should amend the law such that drug peddlers could be given stiffer penalties…Using drugs is centrally controlled or central nervous system-based which means it hits the brain immediately and it changes the user to somebody else. During the first use and second use, the brain of the user becomes very different because of dependence. The youths are then no longer able to control themselves, and that is where the crimes, terrorism, come in. Therefore, please let the word go out that drug use comes with consequences. Many youths are dying of drug overdose because it is very easy for them to access addictive drugs…”

Our children are massively into drugs because there is massive, unceasing and incessant supply. We must staunch the supply. Then review our laws. Then detoxify our children. Or simultaneously and concurrently.

We all wonder why we cannot bring capital punishment to national crimes such as drugs trafficking and, to be politically-correct, to kidnapping, rape, armed robbery and murder. Is Thailand more sensible than us, for example?

Two NDLEA State Commanders I follow closely are Kano’s Hamza Umar and Katsina’s Maryam Sani who are genuinely as concerned as I am on this very serious matter. This is not to say the others are not making effort, but Kano, Jigawa and Katsina are my immediate neighbourhood.

So, let’s recap - the Katsina Elite (I will here particularly appeal to senior academic colleague the Wazirin Katsina Prof Sani Lugga) should rise and help Maryam Sani of NDLEA and follow up on the Funtua case. The Kano Elite - LEADS of Barr. Aisha Dankani and Concerned Kano Citizens of Alhaji Bashir Tofa for example - should help Hamza Umar of NDLEA to unearth the matter of 3 Festing Road Sabon Gari and ‘drugs in plasma television’.

Pan-Arewa, the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), Northern CAN, Usman Bugaje’s Arewa Research and Development Project (ARDP), the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) and those Arewa October Youths must just have to collaborate and do something in unison, for once.

We just have to do it, and may Allah make it easy for us.



https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/drugs-arewa-must-defend-itself.html

knowledgeable:
Just separate your people from infidel Igbos.

igbodefender:
Exactly. The pharmacist hasn't done anything wrong in the eyes of the law. It is not a matter of blaming Igbo chemists who are not selling illegal drugs. It is a matter of the relevant ministries of health, the National Orientation Agency, NGOs to organize public enlightenment campaigns to to dissuade people from abusing those over-the-counter drugs-rather than ethnicizing a health issue.

NdiaraIGBO:
You are IBO according to the constitution of Nigeria.

The other Nigerians should start working collaboratively to REIN in the IBOs!

Every where the ANIMALS go they cause a lot of problems.

Sctests:
So you approbate that Igbos are the biggest dealers of drugs in the north but reprobate that they don't own most of the pharmacies and chemists in the north. Can you run a chemist or pharmacy without getting a patent or pharmacist's license from the regulators?

Why are you afonja's confused like this? eh?

kanubiafra:
SHUT UP NO igbo support sales of hard drugs to public. hard drugs is not the case here its all about drug abuse by the buyers not don't blame the seller. do we blame acid sellers for acid baths? or drink sellers for drunks or cylinder sellers for bombings by boko ? if we should blame the sellers why not we blame the yoruba in ogun state that makes most of the drugs. think bro they just want to victimise igbo with this case of abuse on thier children part on innocent sellers. the drugs he spoke about are not banned get it right. don't demonise igbo's

Roger3D:
On the contrary ALL Ibo posters on this thread supported the drug dealers and passed blame on the drug addicts. The essence of this thread was to establish that and it has succeeded in doing so

kanubiafra:
SHOW me where it is a crime to sell cough drugs over the counter

AkpaMgbor:
On the contrary, the funny and equally sad thing is that despite your supposed education you don’t even know that codeine is a common cough syrup sold in virtually all the local drugstores in the country and so is tramadol which is an analgesic..educated ignoramus!

AkpaMgbor:
On the contrary, the funny and equally sad thing is that despite your supposed education you don’t even know that codeine is a common cough syrup sold in virtually all the local drugstores in the country and so is tramadol which is an analgesic..educated ignoramus!

0monnak0da:
Codeine IS NOT a cough syrup.
Codeine is an opiate in the same family as morphine and Heroin and a product of the opium poppy plant.
Primarily it is a pain killer.
It can also be used too treat severe diarrhoea and in some cases it can be an INGREDIENT in SOME cough mixtures. Its use in cough mixtures is NOT ROUTINE but rather should be EXCEPTIONAL
It is a controlled drug and should be available on prescription only or in jurisdictions where available OTC by a qualified pharmacist subject to limits on purchased quantity and other controls e.g the pharmacist should record the name and address of patient.