Drug Abuse- Of dream stalled, time lost, and wrong association

I met him today on my way back from work, he sat beside me on the bus and I didn’t want to acknowledge him. He noticed and said hello, I responded albeit cautious.

We first met some couple of weeks ago at a suya spot when suddenly, he collapsed, I was the only one who tried resuscitating him, unknown, to me that it was a normal occurrence, and the guys around did not move a flinch to help me take him out of the road.

When he came to be, I handed over his personal effects and took my leave without saying a word.

I was curious about him and with much snooping, found out that he was a drug addict who went round the hood advising young ones on the ills of drug abuse.

Today, he told his story, he was introduced to tramadol, codeine and cannabis by a colleague at work, stress of hitting targets, family and peer pressure with the entire Lagos wahala was getting to him and he welcomed any sort of reprieve.

They would mix four 500mg of trams in a bottle of Coke and they could do 2-3 bottles in a day depending on workload, or how they were feeling. I could not even begin to imagine just how much they gulped in a day, and that’s minus the codeine and all the rest.

Like the case of all excessive use of psychoactive drugs, such as alcohol, pain medications, or illegal drugs. It can lead to physical, social or emotional harm.

This lifestyle took a toll on his health as he developed kidney disease, his family though supportive can’t do much as he was cautioned about his choice, this fainting spell is now a norm and happens anywhere, he’s lost his job in one of the multinationals and the said friend who influenced him isn’t around anymore.

I didn’t know when I teared, I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing. He had just returned from London where he went for his masters and had his life planned out before this happened. We alighted at our stop and walked quietly till we parted.

I’m thinking of this incredibly handsome and intelligent young man and sad at the wrong choices he’s made, sad for wrong influences, sad at dreams stalled.

Drug abuse is the use of illegal drugs or the use of prescription or over-the-counter drugs for purposes other than those for which they are meant to be used, or in excessive amounts. Drug abuse may lead to social, physical, emotional, and job-related problems.

Some of the effects of drug abuse are Seizures, stroke, mental confusion and brain damage. Lung disease. Problems with memory, attention and decision-making, which make daily living more difficult. Global effects of drugs on the body, such as breast development in men and increases in body temperature, which can lead to other health problems.

See a doctor immediately if you;