How drug abuse is wrecking female lives in North

By Stephanie Adams   O n the streets of Barnawa in Kaduna, Habiba, a young lady, holds a child in one arm. In her other hand was a smoking roll of weed. “I did not decide to be an addict,” she said.  “My family were a trouble to me. I was ill-treated, I didn’t feel […]

By Stephanie Adams

 

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n the streets of Barnawa in Kaduna, Habiba, a young lady, holds a child in one arm. In her other hand was a smoking roll of weed.

“I did not decide to be an addict,” she said.  “My family were a trouble to me. I was ill-treated, I didn’t feel loved by my parents so I found solace in my friends and neighbours, who introduced me to a cigarette-like stick. I was 16 years old. I did not like it at first but it gave me a good feeling.

Habiba rediscovered her smile and lost her worries in the smoke of weed. These things made it difficult for her to try to stop.

“Each time I go a day without codeine or weed, I become sad and depressed and I feel like the world is going to end. So I continue. Stopping will be very hard for me. Sometimes I feel sick but I can’t stop,” she said.

With a baby in her care and her dangerous habits, Habiba realizes there is a risk for her child. But she seems so far gone that she couldn’t think too far ahead.

“I will not want her to learn,” she said when asked about her daughter. “It is very bad but if it’s God’s will then let it be done. I want my child to be a doctor to help people like me.”

In Kano, Rasheedah, a married woman explained how drugs, codeine, specifically, was her only recourse after her husband broke her heart when he decided to take a second wife.

“I never believed my husband will take another wife until my neighbour told me during a regular evening gist. Life became horrible for me. I went to see his family to discuss what I have heard, but to my surprise, his mother knew about his plans. Two months after I found out, they got married. All the top government officials were invited. I felt betrayed beyond my imagination. My girlfriend Zainab (name changed) was always taking cough syrup. I didn’t know what it was, but I tried it someday and that was how I found peace of mind.

 

Fatal Addiction

Theresa Ugalahi, a psychiatrist with the Birmingham Solihull Mental Health Foundation, London, highlights the effect of drug addiction among women, which is now gaining a foothold in the northern part of Nigeria.

“In addition to all the adverse effects of drug addiction to humans which we know of, females have certain roles and body build that increase the adverse effect of drugs addiction on them. Females can tolerate less alcohol than males and this is because they have less body water and more body fats.

“The body does not have enough water to dilute the alcohol which stays at a higher concentration in the body. Some studies have also reported that women have fewer enzymes in the stomach to breakdown alcohol and thus tends to get more alcohol into their system. We are also aware that the elimination of alcohol depends on the quantity in the body. Thus they stay drunk for longer, their kidneys and livers are exposed to alcohol for longer, causing more damage, than for males.

“The role of the female which includes bearing children means any drug addiction does not stop on the person involved but also affects the unborn child. Women who drink while pregnant risk their newborn babies developing fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, the most severe is the fetal alcohol syndrome,” she said.

She explains that this syndrome comes with mental retardation and other adverse problems. Cigarette intake, she says has been associated with frequent miscarriages in pregnant females, likewise the use of most of the other drugs. While pregnant, the use of other drugs can result in withdrawal for the child, sometimes fatal.

“Stimulants may cause the baby to be hyperactive, irritable at birth and develop a disorder called attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in childhood. The use of any form of opioid including codeine in pregnancy may cause Neonatal abstinence syndrome associated with vomiting, breathing problems and hypersensitivity to noise.

“Also, note that some drugs can be transmitted through breast milk depending on the quantity taken. A child’s brain keeps developing after birth, and lots of neuronal differentiation takes place during this period. Drugs have been known to disrupt this fine and precise arrangement and growth of these neutrons,” she notes.

Some of these brain changes can lead to mental disorders during adolescence or adulthood, or mental retardation and problems with motor and behaviour skills, the official adds.

“The drug culture controls the life of the person. And the female will have to be subject to the rules of that environment, which in a country as paternalistic as Nigeria will be largely subservient. The cost of these drugs necessitates debts as these women cannot hold a job and they need to buy expensive drugs in a continuous blur. They live in fear of these drug suppliers and the law,” she explains.

Prevalence

Dr Mairo Mandara, the Nigerian Country Representative for Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, explained that the prevalence of drug abuse among girls is aimed at exploiting their sexuality.

“The vulnerability of girls is not just to have them on drugs but to have them on drugs for the purpose of exploiting their sexuality,” she says.

“At a young age, life and livelihood for girls is very important; and this is unique to girls. It is because they have a product that can be used. A lot of time, most of the girls are drugged so that you can get them off their mind, off their guard. For a typical Hausa girl to have sex with two men while others are watching? It’s not regular,” she says.

She also harped on marital negligence as cause of the menace. This, she said, has a more pronounced effect on the women.

“You find a husband who is not able to cater for his responsibility. In the north, even if you’re a billionaire, you expect your husband to shelter you, clothe you – no friends, no job, stress, yet no care from their husbands.”

Asked if the Sharia Law against the intake of alcohol has in any way fuelled the spread of the abuse of hard drugs, Dr. Mandara replied thus:

“In Islam, alcohol is not the only thing that is forbidden. Everything that intoxicates is forbidden. We need to redefine the definition of intoxicants among Muslim clergies.”

She blamed the government for not putting up measures to forestall the sale of codeine even though it has been banned.

She then charged the elite to break their silence and work on discontinuing the menace by speaking and taking charge.

“At family level, we need to take our family more seriously. Honestly speaking, in the north, men need to take their family more seriously. Because they are relegating the responsibility to the women. In the north, men are in charge of the home. At 18, if a mother talks to her child, the child would probably think you are a parrot.”

 

Kano Hisbah Board as Moral Police

At the Kano State Hisbah Board, otherwise known as the moral police, there were about 14-21 young girls in their custody who were picked up for being seen at ‘inappropriate locations’ “at the most inappropriate hours.”

Though all the women suspected of  substance abuse have been transferred to the Kano state reformatory centre, Kiru, however, all efforts made to access the reformatory centre proved abortive.

But among the girls still at the Hisbah board was Khadija, 14. She had been detained for three days having fled her home in Adamawa to Kano because her step mother “doesn’t treat her well.”

Since losing her parents to Boko Haram during an attack, she had been living with her step mother and now wishes to stay with her grandmother in Jalingo so she could resume her education.

Another young girl in the custody of Hisbah is Maryam, 19 who was caught at New Paradise Hotel, Kano. Maryam is a dancer. She gets N3000-N4000 for dancing, even if she makes more money, she’s not paid more than that.

As for Khadijah, 19, who has been in the custody of Hisbah for a week, her parents reported her to Hisbah. She was held, alongside her boyfriend, Mathew, 29, whose house she fled to.

‘We are doing our best’

The Director General of the Hisbah Board, Abah Seriyu Subi, admitted that, although rare, women have records of taking drugs and other substances.

“We have women but it has not been in our character (in the north). We have up to 150 males and 50 females in our custody.

“Although we have a challenge: People are denying (failing) to send their female children to the Board because of stigmatisation. They hide their children because of peer group.”

He added that intake of drugs by these women is mainly “for them to get high”, and this, he said, has been aided by peer pressure and poverty.

Asked how the ban on codeine has reduced or increased the intake of other drugs, he said: “You cannot say it is because of the ban on the consumption of codeine. There are different substances that can make someone high: lizard faeces, some go to the toilet (to sniff ammonia), we have ‘solution’. And they are very cheap; with N5 to N10, you can get it.”

Sabon Gari, a cosmopolitan area in Kano, seems to be worst hit by the prevalence of drug abuse in the state. Therefore, the attention of the Board is drawn to the area.

“You will get all manner of drug addicts in the area. We are doing our best to sanitise Sabon Gari. Operating in the area is very complicated,” he said.

 

Kano Police Speak

The Kano State Police Public Relations Officer, Magaji Majia says the Kano State Police has developed a relationship with every community “which makes it easy for information to be sourced when there is illegal distribution of illegal or suspicious substances in Kano.”

They (police) work alongside the vigilante and the community rulers to make sure that the illegal consumption of codeine cough syrup and other illegal drugs is eliminated.

Mr Majia added that, recently, a man was arrested for storing over 25 bags, each of which contained 25 parcels of Marijuana, in a residential building which he has made a warehouse for these products.

The man, the caretaker and landlord have been arrested for this. Also, a man was arrested for importing banned Tramadol worth N19 million packed in a television carton in a trailer with the intention of depositing in Kano State and Niger Republic.

Mr Majia says the police is working tirelessly to bring perpetrators to law, though he said the police is more concerned with dealers and importers of these harmful products.

“There are about 7, 000 officers working tirelessly to bring drug abuse and addiction to a stop. Mostly, women consume more Tramadol, Packaline, Rohypnol (Rochi),” he says.

 

Recovery from drug addiction in women lower- Psychologist

According to Ayo Ajeigba, a Psychologist with the Olive Prime Psychological Service there is a noticeable increase in the number of women abusing substances over the years.

“Women use several substances even more than men, other types of substances used also depends on cultures and religion, though in terms of comparison, men still consume drugs more than women though the recovery rate from drug addiction among women seems lower and they often get deeper as they have more emotional reasons backing their substance use.

“In terms of after effect of substances, the long and short term effect also depends on the type of substance consumed,” he explained.

 

Ticking Bomb

There is a need for rehabilitation centres, creation of awareness of the menace by religious leaders and state actors in order to bring drug addiction to a stop, advocates like Ibrahim Yusuf Gombe have said.

Mr Gombe, an advocate and Director of the Drug-Free Arewa, a non-governmental organisation says the movement aims to tackle the alarming drug abuse especially among young people in the region.

He says it also aims to pull the attention of strategic influencers and stakeholders to the extent of the alarming damage, and the threat drug abuse poses on the future of the region.

“We also aim to reposition the northern region gradually, back on its historic hub of naturally and customary excellent and exceptional leaders, evident in providing direction in national affairs, and as pillars of Nigeria’s nationhood,” he says.

 

Stephanie Adams is a journalist and a women’s right advocate based in Abuja