Nigeria's Opioid Crisis.

Few, very few youths in Nigeria can afford cocaine, heroin or even amphetamine, heinous commodities domiciled in dollars. Marijuana is passe, no longer fashionable, so the latest kid on the block is Tramadol, a powerful opioid analgesic. Pain, of physical and mental kinds, are certainly of epidermic proportions in Nigeria and Tramadol was always likely to be abused. Over a very short period, it has been elevated to the status of cocaine. Codeine is also in the mix but TMD is the real deal, the passport to social acceptance: if you really want to 'belong', a couple of the white pills take you there. The drug induces vomiting in some people and retching rather adds to the appeal: the same way some folks get their kicks by urinating onto flower pots.
Tramadol abuse is dead easy. It is cheap, dirt cheap, an abuse dose three times less the cost of a fair-sized wrap of marijuana; it is poorly regulated and is easily available over the counter from chemists pressed for sale. It is considered very clean and spick, in contrast to marijuana that leaves the acrid, tell-tale stink on the smoker. It is widely trafficked in sub-Sahara Africa at enormous profits and that's why the problem extends beyond Nigeria. If the police were going to make arrests, it was always with the aim of extorting and users promptly go back to their habits as soon as bribes are paid.
Peddlers are on the verge of making more profits from the drug than the traditional cocaine, heroin and speed and so gross the governmental inattention that 'Tramadol joints' now even exist, spreading at quick-fire rates: open shops dedicated to the sale of this drug and 'paraga', alcoholic herbal brews. The paraga-Tramadol combo is widely popular among youths and is presently fueling an opioid crisis in Nigeria, spreading fast into sub-Sahara Africa.
A simple overdose of Tramadol induces a calmness that itself that itself engenders the notion of crime as a very cool enterprise. Several cases of rape, armed robbery, kidnapping, burglary, murder have been linked to, or emboldened by it. Teenage girls are strapped with suicide belts and loaded with Tramadol before they are sent on their bombing missions by Boko Haram. It reduces whatever anxiety they might harbor, makes them calm and focused on their mission. Since the publication of this article, codeine has risen dramatically in the pyramid of abused drugs among youths in Nigeria. Mainly encased in cough syrups. And so bad a situation that the normally lethargic federal government has moved speedily to ban the importation of codeine in whatever form.