Investigation: Is Potiskum Turning into Drug Port?

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By Kasim Muhammad

 

The records of withheld illegal drugs, unauthorized sales of intoxicants, an increase in drug abuse, and crimes related to drugs have badly put Potiskum in a questionable situation. Potiskum in Yobe State is an epicenter of trade, transportation of goods, and other major businesses and local services, making the town economically viable.

 

The Citizen Reports in an investigation, speaking to a number of drug users discovered that the suspiciously widespread drug addiction and illegal deals in many parts of Potiskum became exceedingly rampant as people use drugs without proper prescription by any medical expert.

 

According to the investigation, numerous victims of drug abuse in Potiskum inexplicably confessed to their lapses in indirectly engaging in the consumption of sedative drugs, mentioning some of the conditions that led to involving themselves in the menace.

 

Most of the addicts we talked to regretted putting themselves on a drug abuse path in the first place. Others, on the other hand, said that the government didn’t care about them because it didn’t do much or anything to get young people involved in skill-building and empowerment programs.

 

Some of the victims were upset that they didn’t have a good education and that the government didn’t pay enough attention to their needs. They said that this was the main reason why they engaged in illicit acts of drug abuse.

 

Musa Mamman (not his real name) is one of the addicts we spoke with. He said that “we were not like this before; we strive to live under the shade of our dreams, but the government has failed to deliver what we necessarily need.”

 

“Yes, they are considering us as political thugs because we have no other means to reach them unless for what they desire, mostly during elections.”

 

Mamman said that he and all the men with him, whom we spotted and interviewed, wish to stop taking sedatives and find something better for their lives.

 

While we closely observed their hideouts in the jungles, where they usually hid for drug abuse, some of them said they were there in the first place due to unemployment, which made them helpless and depressed. 

 

Idris Abubakar is a nursing officer who works in Borno State with a non-governmental health organization. He told The Citizen Reports that taking it without a proper prescription from an expert may cause dementia, mental confusion, and brain damage. He advised people to refrain from self-medication. He went on to say that the threat has a significant impact on an individual’s thinking patterns, memory, and concentration, which can lead to suicidal thoughts, among other risks.

 

Also, Mallam Ali Kolo, a lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Yobe State University, said that the main reasons why so many young people use drugs illegally are peer pressure, poverty, high unemployment, depression, and psychological trauma. 

 

According to the data released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) on June 24, 2021, around 275 million people used drugs worldwide in 2020, while over 36 million people suffered from drug use disorders.

 

According to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), less than 29.4 million Nigerians between the ages of 15 and 64 abuse psychoactive substances and other dangerous drugs. It further stated that 14.3 million Nigerians aged 15–64 use psychoactive substances such as alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, and heroin, while 10.6 million abuse cannabis.

 

It is, therefore, pertinent for the government to provide job opportunities for the youths, support them with funds to start small businesses, and educate them on the dangers of taking drugs illegally. This will keep the most vulnerable young people in Potiskum from doing illegal things and from damaging government or public property. It will also lower the crime rate in the town and in the state as a whole.

 

The federal agencies that are supposed to stop drug abuse and illegal use should also be firm in their plans to do undercover general patrols, seize any hard drugs, and send anyone who is found guilty to the correctional facility.

 

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