…Long term effect of Indian hemp worse than immediate benefit – Psychiatrist
In the past, people smoke cigarette in secret. Some of them would even go as far as taking menthol sweets to hide its odour because of the stigma attached to people who indulge in the habit. These days, however, the story is different. Not only do people smoke cigarette in public, the impunity with which Nigerian youths consume marijuana (Indian hemp) now is worrisome, writes AMIDU ARIJE.
To many of weed, smoking Indian hemp help them reach the peak of energy in their daily activities. A World Health Organisation (WHO) recent report revealed that more people especially the youths are currently engaged in the habit.
An assessment of some communities in Lagos and Ogun states by The Nigerian Xpress supported the WHO report. The experience may not be different in many other parts of the country. A visit to places like Mushin, Oshodi, Lagos Island, Agege and Ajegunle, Ojodu, Sango-Ota and other suburbs showed that at almost every corner and bus stop, youths gather to smoke Indian hemp with impunity.
More shocking is the fact that marijuana is hawked around like other products. For instance, under the Obalende bridge on Lagos Island, patrons do not have to go far to source for Indian hemp. The hawkers go about with the wraps. Some of the weed hawkers even display it, just as other traders exhibit their wares.
The hemp hawkers do not just sell the item, they complement it with sachets of liquors to the delight of their patrons.
With as little as N50.00, the smokers who are mostly bus drivers, conductors, touts, artisans and unemployed youths puff away as many times as possible in a day. The pungent odour of Indian hemp is unmistakably pervasive all over through the day and night.
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The youths who indulge in the hemp smoking habit usually gather at street junctions and bus stops. Some of them also smoke around schools, disused public buildings and soccer viewing and sports betting centres.
Some criminally-minded youths use the marijuana to get the needed ‘high’ to unleash mayhem on fellow beings.
For a habitual consumer to remain high throughout the day, he needs to be consistently buoyant financially. This is why areas where the smokers are many never cease witnessing criminal activities, such as snatching of phones and handbags, robbing vehicle owners in traffic or distressed situations.
A 22-year-old smoker of Indian hemp, Oluwaseun Damola, speaks of his experience: “It gives me the inspiration I need instantly. It helps my intellect, makes me remember things that ordinarily I wouldn’t have been able to remember. It makes me come back to the past. I get higher once I take Indian hemp. I also take it when I want to reason or think about something. It simply puts me in the right mood for the day.”
Explaining how he got into the habit, Damola said his friends and the community where he resides lured him into smoking. “I started smoking through a friend. You know, most times, we follow friends around and it is what they are doing that you will also do. Then, the area that I live. This is what almost everyone does. So, there is nothing else anyone can do. When you are in such a society, you would want to show yourself and behave as if you also belong. From there, I have graduated into becoming a chain smoker and now an addict. In my case, it was my friends that influenced my smoking of Indian hemp,” he said.
Damola’s delving into marijuana habit took place when he was still very young. He said: “I started smoking from my tender age. I used to run away from the house because at times when I had the urge to smoke, I would not be free and this usually affects me. The people around me did not like the smell and immediately they perceived the odour, they would begin to make noise and disturb me and you know, you have to avoid people’s complaints and comments and I have to live and please myself. So, because my parents and neighbours would not let me be, they don’t want to accept my choice and I don’t also like them complaining about my act all the time, I started running away from home for two or three days. Later, it increased to eight days and even one month. That way, I am able to enjoy street life. Today, I have made the street my permanent home,” he said.
In the past, Damola could count the number of wraps he smoked,but he has now lost count of wraps of weeds he smokes in a day. As far he is concerned, it depends on how he feels. He claims to spend up to N3,000 daily on marijuana before he is satisfied.
Interestingly, Damola said the chain must continue because if he fails to take it a day, he will lose control of himself and starts misbehaving.
Shedding more light on his mind boggling habit, Damola said, “The price of weed varies. It depends on where you are buying it from. So, I can’t really say this is the exact amount they sell it. What I am sure is that one nylon of rizla sells for N400.”
But how does he get money to fund his expensive habit since he has no steady income, he said: “This is street life now. The money will come. This is very sure. But if I don’t have money, I go to my friends who also smoke to let me puff and this keeps me down a bit because anytime I don’t take Indian hemp, I lose control of myself. After all, what are friends for? If they are in my shoes, I will do the same thing for them.”
Explaining why more people seem to be in the habit, Damola said there are different reasons. “For me, once I take the wraps of this stuff, I just feel high and very comfortable; I still remain in my normal senses. I have people who are sick and have been instructed to take it in a particular dosage. Some people take it to impress or woo ladies, because ordinarily they are shy people. Besides, you know some girls do smoke so. For this kind of girls, you must be a smoker to be their men.”
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Much as Damola feels good about his habit, he wishes to stop especially because of the health implications. Pleading for help, he said: “My life as a smoker is not what I really want. I know that smoking Indian hemp can cause damage to my heart and other internal organs but there is just nothing I can do. I have made several efforts to stop but all have failed. I don’t take alcohol, it is only hemp that I take. I will just advise people not to try it, not to go near it, because once you start, it becomes difficult to stop. It will even cause problem to one’s body system.
“I don’t usually go fighting on the streets because this life is not about smoking and fighting, it is about what you want to be. Each time I see my colleagues fighting I try settling them, because, for me, normally I don’t like people making unnecessary noise where I am standing.”
A Chief Consultant Psychiatric at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Oshodi annex, Dr Olufunmilayo Akinola spoke on the effects of Indian hemp smoking: “When we look at the effect of the substance, we usually look at it in three different ways. We look at it from physical health of the person, psychological effect and the social, is it affecting the family life and the society.
We know Indian hemp, if we look at it from the individual. We do know that the age with which Indian hemp smoking is started is young and at the adolescent age, they start with cigarette smoking, from where they graduate to Indian hemp.
“The principal effect of Indian hemp is the effect it has on the brain of these children. Remember they start smoking at a young age. We know there are different ways of consuming it. Sometimes, they put it in food to eat and other times they put it in tea and drink. The weed itself has almost 100 different chemicals in it. It affects the brain and their ability to think and assimilate is also affected. Sometimes from research we know that the consumption of Indian hemp can actually cause psychiatric problems and we know that one of the most significant effects it has is psychological dependence. It is what you use it for that it does for you. If they want to be bold to ‘toast’ a girl; some derive pleasant enjoyment and they started missing classes, they stop attending lectures and gradually you will see them stop functioning academically and socially.
“But these children will argue with you. We call that aid motivational syndrome, because they won’t have motivation to do anything. They will not be there, physiologically, psychologically and socially because they are not doing anything with their lives and they will not be able to achieve anything in life.
“This drug is the gateway to other drugs, they graduate to taking heroin and cocaine, which are more dangerous and can affect various organs of the body.
“The principal thing it does is that it does not make them achieve anything in life. But some may say they feel fine when they take it, they feel awake, but that is just the immediate effect. The long term effect is worse than its immediate benefit. So it is not good.
“The emotional effect of Indian hemp on the parents can be devastating, because they think of the money and energy they have invested on the children to grow and become successful in life but they turned the other way round. It can only be imagined.”
“The medical advantage that has been proved to some extent is that it can be used to reduce some pains but you need to weigh the advantages over the disadvantages. The disadvantage of consuming Indian hemp is far worse than its benefit. It outweighs its advantages. Even in the developed countries, if you have to use it, it has to be for palliative measures. We should annex things that benefit us. There must be strong laws against this substance to make the youths live better and be useful to themselves and the society.”
The consultant psychiatrist also urged the government to ensure that there is an enabling law and measure to stop the growing of Indian hemp anywhere in the country.
The negative effect of Indian hemp smoking is not only felt by the smokers. Those who inhale the smoke also share in the hazards. For instance, a petty trader who identifies herself simply as Mama Ejire lamented inhaling smoke of marijuana daily from smokers who gather around her trading post. She sells petty wares at Obalende.
Mama Ejire speaks: “I have been selling my wares here for close to a year and I don’t see how I can leave this place. Business is good, but I have been treating cough now for over eight months. It has not gone. I have tried leaving this area on advice of people and my relatives, but I have had to return. I have children and parents to feed and this is the only place I make good sales that has been affording me to make tangible contributions daily.”
Some passers-by who are non-active smokers like Mama Ejire also lamented being exposed to the smoke from those who exhibit their dangerous habit in public as if they are not bound by any law.
A legal practitioner, Mr. Dare Oki said the menace will be checked if government will rise up to enforce the law forbidding smoking in public places. Oki also call on the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) to ensure that law forbidding Indian hemp smoking and sales is strictly enforced. Warnings should be placed at public centres with a strict penalties for offenders. This way, Oki pointed, the menace will be curbed.
