According to the BlacksLaw Dictionary (Nith Edition), in its page 572, Drug Abuse was said to mean “The detrimental state produced by the repeated consumption of a narcotic or other potentially dangerous drugs, other than as prescribed by a doctor to treat an illness or other medical condition”.
Google also described drug abuse as “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 as it was learnt, may lead to social, physical, emotional, job-related problem. Today, the menace of drug abuse is so obvious in the society in that it has caused a lot of havoc in both families and the entire society.
This bring to mind the rate at which crime is committed nowadays among young people. They do many things with ease including crime commission and execution. Then it was unheard of that someone was beheaded after being killed.
But now, young people especially the cultists and crime predators among them, blame and scold any of their pals who succeeded in ‘ killing a perceived enemy without beheading same. To show his worth and to get the class approval he needed, he must kill and dismember the enemy just to spite him even at death.
Drug has been written about in many languages and by many people over the centuries. Many of these works are very useful in treatment for addiction, but few have the same impact as the Holy Bible. According to the Scriptures in Ist Peter chapter 5:8, it generally condemned intoxication, which also include drug abuse.
It read thus: Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil propels like a roaring lion looking for some to devour”, .It was also gathered that substance abuse or alcohol addiction dulls the mind. It makes it a fertile soil for destructive behaviour which leads to various level of crime participation and commission.
Some addicts may start from petty stealing just to afford money for drug. That is why the Holy Scriptures pointed out in Ephesians chapter 5 in the 18th verse thusly: “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the spirit”.
Also, the Quran in its chapter 2 : 219 said thus” They ask you about wine and gambling. Say, “In them is great sin and yet, some benefit for people. But their sin is greater than their benefit”. And they ask you what they should spend. Say, “The excess beyond needs”.
No meaningful human environment has ever welcomed the idea of drug abuse. In some climes, abusers are often treated as lepers wherein even their family members and friends distance them. They are treated that way so they can retrace their steps and do the needful.
I was shocked to the marrow when I was told the items or substance that could be abused and lead to serious intoxication. Many have failed in this aspect and have permanently injured their brain. Some abuse even the human feaces in the name of getting high.
Today, in our society there are many promising youths who have ran mad or suffering other sorts of brain disease due to drug abuse. Some started as a result of one night stand with friends. From there, they became addicts.
These are the ones that are very gruesome in action. They maim, kill and leave their victims in horrible state. They are no more humans because their sense of responsibility has left them.They reason from the anus instead of the brain given that the brain has been lost to drug abuse.
In no distance time, families and the society generally may not boast of producing quality people and good brains. In a chat with one Primary School teacher in one of our rural areas in the state, I was drenched in my own tears when he told me that five male siblings of same parents are now psychiatric patients due to drug abuse.
Now, if this is the case, in the next decade more families in that community may suffer same fate. Another family very well known to me , shared in the fate with that ‘teachers community’, wherein two hefty male adults of same parents are now visitor to the psychiatric hospital due to drug abuse. If the government do not act fast in this direction, the fate of the future generation will be in serious jeopardy.
The most shocking aspect of the development is that girls are not spared in the ugly trend. While growing up, ladies were hardly sipping beer in the open. They were tutored to see such life style as masculine. They maintained a high level of decorum and were given the required protection and respect by their male counterparts who saw them as the ‘Weaker Vessels’, as the Scriptures made us to believe.
But currently, there is a keen rivalry between the males and females as to who should be adjudged to be the highest abusers of drug or substances. Many young ladies now roam the streets as a result of drug abuse. Night Clubs operators are, to my mind, the major sponsors of this venture, because some of them as I reliably gathered, provide the ladies with free drugs and other substances.
Reason for the free drug provision by the Club owners for the ladies is to enable them be on fire. When on fire, it was gathered that it will take the ‘help’ , of a male partner who is also on ‘fire’, to quench hers. This, according to sources, brings about business boom in the clubhouses.
Some of the ladies in the nightclubs have testified to the fact that no one can live such life without abusing drugs or other substances. Now if such revelation is anything to go by, why won’t drug abusers abound in the society? People must come together and fight drug abuse. The government and other relevant agencies are more concerned with what will be of immediate benefit to them before they will then consider its pros and cons.
This ugly situation which is gradually becoming the talk-of-the- day is a respecter of no man.Some time last month, it was rumoured that a son of a prominent Nigerian was spotted at the roadside dipping slices of bread in a stagnant water and eating same. When probed into, it was discovered that he was not only a substance abuser, but an addict of the highest order.
The Drug Law operatives have made it clear that they are always ready to partner any group or individual willing to undergo rehabilitation free of charge. At a security summit at Rumuibekwe in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, some time ago, a representative of the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency, told the guests then how a woman’s head was pounded with a mortar pestle to pieces by a drug addict who was undergoing rehabilitation in their facility in Port Harcourt.
According to him, the addict who was said to be from a rich family was withdrawn by her mother the same night she was killed on the ground that the facility was not befitting for her son. The Drug Law representative revealed that the addict was fast responding to treatment before the forceful withdrawal by mother.
Now the nucleus of this write up is for the Police authority to partner with the NDLEA to fight drug abuse rather than focusing their searchlight on the OSPAC. OSPAC, just like every other human outfit, has its bad eggs. The bad eggs are not free of drug abuse, they could be fished out and made to undergo rehabilitation.
The Police rather than give the OSPAC an undeserving attention, should in a jiffy, come to terms with the NDLEA and flush the system. This will seriously check radicalism and the unwanton behaviour among OSPAC operatives.
From the above narratives and some definitions provided so far, it can then be generally accepted that crime commission is more often than not the result of drug abuse and other substances. If the listed agencies come together to fight against drug abuse, the excesses of the OSPAC will not only be nibbed in the bud, but the entire society will know peace, reason being the fact that the fountain of crime has been attacked and addressed.
History may not be kind to the callers of OSPAC’s neck going by the good they have done.
Let us not throw away the baby alongside with the bath water.

By: King Onunwor