The story has been told of an Abuja slum where young Nigerians do drugs very freely.

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It goes with out saying that only about 20 years ago, the Nigerian culture was strictly known for enforcing public decency and rectitude as a young child was never to be seen with alcohol or cigarette not to talk of hard drug.

Sadly, today, however, teenagers, despite stern warnings by the World Health Organisation, WHO, are deeply into drug.

Drug is accessible to them through local channels and massive distributions.

Teenagers and young adults do drugs with impunity and are the highest abusers of substances like marijuana, codeine and alcohol among others.

A visit to a popular abattoir market in Karu village, a community under the Abuja Municipal Area Council, AMAC, will convince any doubting Thomas on this reality as it was in this case of Sunday Vanguard reporter who had gone there to buy goat meat.

Just a stone-cast distance from the butchery to the main road lies a secluded skanky slum, from where a thick smell of cannabis reeked the atmosphere and several scruffy looking men and women, perceived to be within the age bracket of 15-20, were seen.

As I walked into the area, some young ladies who appeared unkempt swarmed over me, asking me to take a quick look at what they had for sale.

A step or two in, voices of narcotic sellers became audible, and the atmosphere greatly smelled of marijuana.

“Fine boy, fine boy, make you come check my own. You go dey alright”, they called out while others made bodily attempts to get me to their spots.

Those who already bought stuff hanged here and there.


Whereas some were seen wrapping their own marijuana, several others were puffing away you would think that is the most important thing in life.

It was a first-hand experience on what looked like a grave societal decay and how youths are deep into drug.

Welcome to the world of substance where people seeking solace and escape from emotional pain by numbing themselves with tranquilizers and narcotics get their stuff.

For others, it helps to alter their state of consciousness such that they feel “high”, very happy, euphoric, relaxed, sociable and uninhibited.

Some of the abusers told Sunday Vanguard their stories.

Teens

Okezie Chibuzor, otherwise known as ‘Socket’ and one of the abusers of substance in the neighborhood, who narrated with soberness the turning point in his life at the very young age of 15, after mingling with hood boys about his age, said he has become a smoker who could not survive one day without puffing the air.

Chibuzor, who claimed to be a bright student during his school days, and one who was brought up as a church kid, never thought he could become a drop-out in JSS 2.

He described himself a “hardened neighborhood criminal” who had seen the walls of different correctional facilities, and an assaulter of his parents.

The addict, however, blamed his parents for his lifestyle, adding that he began to take the wrong path during his early days when he brought back home items obtained from acts of crime, but was never cautioned by his parents.

He narrated how he led many other young boys and girls into drugs.

His words: “I have always lived a rough life from childhood even though I was bright and had a calm face. But, I was a petty thief. “My parents are poor, so when I brought those things (I stole) back home, they hardly asked where I got them from. Instead, they’d ask me, ‘who dashed you?’ And, I’d put up a fake story.

“That lifestyle continued for some time until one day when I stole from a set of thieves who caught me.

“That very day, my life changed. Whatever you see now was as a result of my decision on that very day.

“I had to pay back by stealing whatever they asked me to. I actually thought I was enjoying it and also helping myself.

“Soon, when I impressed them, I became part of the team and we did a lot of horrible things together. I was also introduced to weed.

“When I took it at first, it almost took my life because I fainted.

“But, I regained consciousness after a while. Since then, I crossed whatever available help I could get to becoming not just a tough smoker but I now sell to people.

“My parents did not know I was smoking because I was careful at home.

“Whenever I couldn’t help but smoke before going to bed, that was when I knew smoking was bad for anyone.

“But, then, I was helpless, I had crossed the Rubicon and I couldn’t help myself. I could not finish my JSS 2 exams. Smoking took that away from me because I spent all my money, including school fees, on smoking.

“I could not finish my secondary school and my life changed. I became a chain smoker. When my parents got to know about my lifestyle, it became a very serious problem in the house. Because the idea of, you know, their son, a young child, being a smoker was horrible to them.