From campus dreams to Crystal meth: A graduate’s battle with drugs
Drugs and substance use and abuse among undergraduates have been recognised as a global public and societal health issue, which has continued to rise despite solutions. For many young Nigerians aspiring to get into a higher institution, university life represents hope, ambition and a pathway to a better and brighter future. However, for an accounting […]
Drugs and substance use and abuse among undergraduates have been recognised as a global public and societal health issue, which has continued to rise despite solutions.
For many young Nigerians aspiring to get into a higher institution, university life represents hope, ambition and a pathway to a better and brighter future. However, for an accounting graduate of an Abuja-based university, Muhammad Salisu (not his real name), it marked the beginning of a long and painful struggle with drug addiction, one that continues to haunt him years after graduation. In a chat with Weekend Trust, he narrates his way into drug use and addiction, his struggles and repeated rehabilitation, including reasons why he relapsed after rehabilitation.
His journey into substance abuse, he recounted, began innocently on campus, influenced by a girlfriend who was already into drugs. He was drawn into a lifestyle that soon spiralled out of control.
What started during his undergraduate days did not end with graduation; instead, it followed him into adulthood, career and family relations.
Today, he is undergoing rehabilitation for a second time, as the first failed after he had a relapse.
“This is my second time here because I relapsed. Relapse happens for many reasons,” he explained quietly.
In his case, illness and misunderstanding played a critical role. He narrated that he fell ill but his parents didn’t believe him as they instantly assumed he had returned to his old ways: drugs. The lack of trust from his parents, he admitted, pushed him into anger and emotional distress, feelings that eventually led him back to substance abuse.
The consequences were far-reaching. His parents were thrown into constant worry, while he battled guilt, frustration and shame.
“Drug abuse is easy to start but stopping is hard. You may want to stop in your heart, but it takes patience, prayer and determination,” he noted.
As the first son of his family, the weight of responsibility weighs heavily on him. He openly acknowledged that he had not lived up to the expectations of his family and the society. “I have not been a good ambassador of my family or a good role model to my younger siblings,” he admitted.
Ironically, he now spends much of his time warning his siblings against following his path, which is dangerous for any serious-minded individual.
He advised them to focus on their education and ignore the constant conflicts between him and their father.
“Drugs and education cannot go together. It is either you do drugs or you study,” he tells them
He recalled that his first rehabilitation admission was voluntary. He approached his father and asked him to deduct money from his salary to pay for his treatment.
The second admission, however, followed the relapse triggered by mistrust and emotional pain. Now filled with remorse, he said he apologised remorsefully to his father, kneeling before him in tears and promising that this would be his final attempt at recovery.
Beyond his personal story, he believes that drug abuse among Nigerian youths has reached alarming levels.
“It is a dead-end road. “You cannot succeed academically, you cannot grow in your career; and even if you get a job, there is no progress,” he warned.
He added that addiction stripped users of dignity and respect, even within their own families.
“Your younger ones will not respect you,” he said, noting that his advice often goes unheeded because of his past.
Marriage, he said, remained a distant dream. Although he desires to settle down some day, he believes it would be irresponsible to marry in his current condition.
“Any woman I marry now will suffer,” he admitted.
Tracing the progression of his addiction, he revealed that it began with codeine syrup between 2014 and 2016 before moving on to crack cocaine, which he used until 2022. After that came ICE, commonly known as Crystal meth—a drug he described as the most dangerous of all.
“Crystal meth takes away your peace of mind. It isolates you from people, destroys your body, lowers your self-esteem and affects your mental health,” he explained.
As a result, he stopped going to work; and despite earning substantial salaries, his income never lasted more than few days.
He said much of the drug supply came from Raymond Village, an area notorious among users. Even after rehabilitation, returning there poses a serious risk, he added.
According to him, dealers deliberately target those who appear healthy or financially stable, offering free drugs as bait.
He recounted one incident after his previous rehabilitation where he was given drugs worth N12,000 free of charge by a dealer who admired his phone worth over N500,000.
Shortly after that, the phone was taken from him in exchange for drugs worth less than N100,000.
“You don’t think twice; Crystal meth destroys your judgement,” he said.
He believes his story reflects a broader crisis facing Nigerian youths – one often ignored until it is too late.
“There is no benefit in drugs; only temporary pleasure and permanent loss,” he stressed.
As he continues his rehabilitation, he hopes his experience would serve as a cautionary tale. For him, recovery is no longer just about personal survival but preventing others from walking the same destructive path.
He, however, noted, “When I was in school, I wasn’t using crystal meth. I was using codeine, cough syrup, and my grades were okay. I graduated with a good result – no bribes, no special favors.”
But while his academic performance remained intact, his social world quietly reorganised itself around his addiction.
A double life on campus
“The drug made me to be in a circle as most of my friends were people who did drugs with me. So it was a normal relationship between my fellow users and me,” he explained, adding that with other students, interaction was cordial but distant – “just casual relationships where everybody is being friendly with one another and nothing more.”
His relationship with fellow students was cordial but a bit detached. The same could not be said for his lecturers as his relationship with them was even more detached.
“It was just to attend my lectures; there was nothing more than that. Because of the drugs, I was trying not to get attached to them. I was just on my own,” he added.
He described his university life as living in functional isolation, physically present in class, successful on paper but emotionally withdrawn most times.
Easy access
On how he got his supply, he simply noted that his supply chain was alarmingly simple.
“There is an area called Galadimawa in Abuja, close to my school. We used to go there to get our supplies most of the time. The cough syrup was purchased from a pharmacy without a doctor’s prescription. We would just go there and get it,” he revealed.
He said the prices ranged from N600 to N2,000 per bottle, depending on the brand, alleging that the pharmacy staff were aware the product was not being used for medical purposes.
“He knows we are using it for leisure and not for medical purposes,” he alleged.
Weekend Trust notes that the ease of access underscores the ongoing regulatory challenges around controlled medicines and the thin line between legitimate pharmaceutical sales and misuse.
Rehabilitation and relapse
After he was discharged last time and reunited with his family, he relapsed.
He said the trigger was not craving alone but control. “It is because of the rules and regulations imposed on me by my parents. Many drug addicts who were rehabilitated navigate their way back to drugs because of strict conditions set for them by their parents,” he also said.
He said rehabilitation was already an intensely restrictive experience: three to four months without a phone, internet access or freedom of movement.
“We are in one place. After being released back to your house, you are given the same kind of rules and regulations. It is just like you are being in rehabilitation again, but you are in your house,” he added.
He noted that the transition from institutional control to domestic surveillance felt suffocating because instead of reintegration, he experienced what he described as confinement without clinical support.
Who pays the price?
The financial toll of repeated rehabilitation is significant. His first treatment was self-sponsored. His second was paid for by his father. This third time, his father brought him back, but he is footing the bill himself.
He earns approximately N400,000 monthly, a stable income that contrasts sharply with the instability of his addiction. He is educated, employed, articulate and successful, yet he remains caught in a cycle that blends personal choice, systemic loopholes and family tension.
We have rehabilitated 18 inmates in 4 months – NDLEA
The Sokoto State command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says it has rehabilitated 18 drug-dependent individuals and successfully reunited them with their families over the past five months.
The state commander, Alhaji Mustapha Muhammad Gidado, disclosed this during a recent press conference at the command headquarters.
He, however, expressed concern over the lack of skills acquisition equipment at the command’s rehabilitation centre, noting that such facilities are essential for the complete rehabilitation and reintegration of inmates.
Gidado appealed to the Sokoto State Government and public-spirited individuals to support the centre, which he said accommodated drug-dependent persons from different parts of the country.
He also highlighted other achievements recorded by the command within the last four months, including the arrest of 146 suspects—among them a 72-year-old man—and the seizure of 982.8 kilograms of illicit drugs.
According to him, 13 of the suspects have been convicted, while 18 others are currently awaiting trial.
The NDLEA commander said the seizures included 54 cartons of codeine-based cough syrup intercepted along the Nigeria-Niger Republic border, as well as 15 bags of cannabis sativa concealed in sacks of sawdust and transported into Sokoto State from Edo State.
Other confiscated items, he added, comprised 198 blocks of cannabis sativa, diazepam and other illicit substances.
Gidado attributed the successes recorded by the command to the support of the Sokoto State Government, effective collaboration with other security agencies, and timely intelligence provided by members of the public.
He reaffirmed the NDLEA’s commitment to eradicating drug abuse and trafficking in the state, stressing that sustained public cooperation remains critical to achieving this objective.
“We are appealing to the general public to continue to assist us with credible information that will lead to the arrest of offenders. I assure you that all the information provided will be treated with the highest level of confidentiality,” he said.
Some parents introduced wards to drugs – Expert
Speaking with Weekend Trust, the chairman of the Centre for the Sensitisation Against Drug Abuse (CESADA), Alhaji Abdurrazaq Shehu, decried the role some parents play—knowingly or unknowingly—in introducing their children to drugs.
“Some parents who smoke or take drugs often send their children to buy them. By doing so, they are unknowingly exposing them to these substances,” he said.
Alhaji Shehu described the rising rate of drug abuse among youths and married women as alarming. He cited recent reports indicating that over 14 million Nigerians are currently involved in drug abuse, with projections suggesting the figure could rise to 30 million by 2030 if urgent action is not taken.
He said, “The victims are mostly youths. And some of them were influenced by the very parents who were supposed to protect them.”
He identified other contributing factors, such as peer group pressure, ignorance, easy access to drugs and environmental exposure.
According to him, many young people become victims simply because they live in communities where drugs are openly sold.
“Some youths are trapped because they live in environments where drugs are readily available,” he added.
Alhaji Shehu, however, called for a collective response to the crisis, urging parents, government at all levels, religious and traditional leaders, as well as civil society organizations, to work together to reverse the trend.
He said the CESADA, which has operated for over 20 years, had continued to organise sensitisation programmes across Sokoto State despite financial constraints.
He appealed for support from the state government, donor agencies and well-meaning individuals, particularly as the centre plans to introduce rehabilitation and empowerment programmes for victims of drug abuse.