Drug Abuse Effects: What Police Need To Do To OSPAC

According to the Blacks Law Dictionary (Ninth Edition), in its page 572, drug abuse is said to mean “The detrimental state produced by the repeated consumption of a narcotic or other potentially dangerous drug, other than as prescribed by a doctor to treat an illness or other medical condition”.
Google also describes 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 that, it has caused a lot of havoc in both families and the entire society.
This brings 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 one 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 ‘falling’ 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 spike 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 1st Peter Chapter 5 verse 8, it generally condemned intoxication, which can read to also mean drug abuse.
It reads thus: Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil propels like a roaring lion looking for who 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 verse 18 “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit”.
Also, the Quoran in its Chapter 2 v 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 in that way so that 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 that aspect and have permanently injured their brain. Some abuse even the human excreta in the name of getting high.
Today, in our society, there are many promising youths who have run mad or suffering brain diseases due to drug abuse. Some started as a result of one night hanging out with friends. From there, they became addicts.
These are the ones that are very gruesome in action. They maim, kill and live their victims in horrible state. They are no more humans since their sense of humanity has left them. They now reason from the anus instead of the brain given that the brain has been lost to drug abuse.
Soon, families and the society generally may not boast of producing quality people and good brain thinkers. In a chat with one primary school teacher in one of our rural areas in the State, I was moved to tears when he told me that five male siblings of same parents were psychiatric patients due to drug abuse.
Pathetically, there is a likelihood that if the situation goes unchecked by the next decade more families in that community may suffer greater harm.
Also, another family very well known to me, share in the fate with the teacher’s community’, wherein two hefty adult males of same parents are now mentally deranged the abuse of drugs. If the federal, State and local government do not act fast to check the, the fate of the future generations will be in a serious jeopardy.
The most shocking aspect of the development is that females are not spared in the ugly trend. While growing up, ladies were hardly seen 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 necessary 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 an unhealthy contest between the male and female folks 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 mind-boggling addiction, because some of them as I reliably gathered, provide the ladies with free drugs and other hard substances.
According to some persons who spoke under the cloak of anonymity, the 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 clubs.
Some of the ladies in the night clubs have testified to the fact that one can live such lives without abusing drugs or other substances. Now if such revelation is anything to go by, why would drug abusers not abound in the society? Consequently, there must be a concerted effort by all and sundry in the fight against drug abuse. The government and other relevant agencies must concern themselves more with how to checkmate the effect of the growing consumption and abuse of drugs in the society rather than benefitting from the ugly situation. The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) should take greater responsibility so that society does not go berserk. Not to do something is to be crippled fast.
This ugly situation which is gradually becoming the talk-of-the- day is a respecter of no man. Last month, it was rumoured that a son of a prominent Nigerian was spotted at the road side dipping slices of bread in stagnant water and eating same. When the matter was investigated, it was discovered that he was not merely 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 with 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, recently, a representative of the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency, told the guests 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 NDLEA representative revealed that the addict was fast responding to treatment before the forceful withdrawal by his mother.
Now the nucleus of this write up is for the police authorities to consider partnering with the NDLEA and fight drug abuse rather than beaming their searchlight solely on the OSPAC. The 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 as well.
The police rather than give the OSPAC an undeserving attention, should in a jiffy, come in and work with the drug agency and sanitise the system. This will seriously check the overzealousness and unethical conduct and behaviour among OSPAC operatives.
From the foregoing, there appears to be a nexus between crime commission and drug abuse. If the listed agencies come together and fight against drug abuse, the excesses of the OSPAC will not only be nipped in the bud, but the entire society will know peace, the reason being the fact that the foundation of crime has been attacked and addressed.
History will not be kind to those who are asking for OSPAC’s neck in view of the horrifying situation that gave birth to the vigilante group as well as the peace they have restored in local communities.
Let us not throw away the baby alongside the bath water.

By: King Onunwor