After the impasse triggered by Chimamanda Adichie’s question to Hillary Clinton fizzled out, various social media platforms became inundated with comment on and around President Buhari’s official visit to the United States of America (USA). But comments about the president’s visit to the US immediately fizzled out immediately the federal government banned the issuance of permits for the importation of codeine as active pharmaceutical ingredient for cough preparations. The directive, according to the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, became necessary due to the gross abuse codeine usage has been subjected to in the country, especially in Northern region. After the directive, the platforms suddenly became rapturous with reactions. Below are some of them:
Mubarak Ibrahim Lawan
On Codeine and the Rest of Us
Medical doctors have now confirmed that cold and the resulting cough are cured by antibiotics alone. Most of them (the doctors) have already stopped prescribing any codeine cough syrups to cold patients. Yet, the syrups are marketed and sold more than any medicine because of reasons known to us all. All security agencies have been engaged to fight the menace but to no avail. Unfortunately, the mighty NDLEA, the Police, the Customs and Civil Defence are generally accused of aiding and abetting the dealers. Then how could we be saved?
The police, at a certain orientational lecture, admitted that should they be provided with good salaries and allowances to fuel their trucks, at least, they would stage a real fight. But now, as nobody fuels their trucks, the drivers take bribe from drug/codeine dealers to do that and to feed their family on the “fortieth” day of the month. The same story comes from the rest of the agents. Moreover, the NDLEA cry out on the meagre number of the staff they have. Still nobody cares!
I wonder how could our porous borders be manned by the few, corrupt and money-minded customs. They just wait there for the highest payer to pop up at the borders with whatever he wishes to bring into the country so he sprays green! And, such dealers, being in the most lucrative business of the century, give whatever it takes to buy the border, the uniformed officers and the road to their warehouse. Hence, codeine and drugs must find their way to our slums and GRAs.
Learned gentlemen say that drugs, codeine and all other intoxicants are more dangerous than insurgency. They wipe out a generation or more. So I think, if we can fight the menace from below, the government should fight it from above. If we can stop our sons and daughters from taking them, the government, if ever it is serious about the war, can fight the producing companies, the dealers and the bad eggs in the security agencies.
Ojukwu Arinze GD
Codeine banned right?
They just made millionaires overnight of some people.
#RegulateNotBan
Olumide Iyanda
Banning codeine and living in denial about addiction generally is a waste of time
Abdullahi Abdussalam
Is banning the production of codeine enough to stop addiction? No. It will only push it production and importation underground. What about the youths who take it? They are much around: jobless, hopeless and idle. And an idle mind is a devil’s workshop.
Festus Adibe
Ban codeine, ban guns, ban knives, ban marijuana. When will we learn that it’s about the person and not the object?
Nana Sule
We have always taken one road to things in this country. Something isn’t working, so we remove it. Without thinking what the aftereffect would be… Or if perhaps there are other ways to go about achieving our results.
Ban and then what? Would it stop people from searching for and finding substances more powerful? At the end, is it the substance or the mental health we should be worried for?
Aminu Hassan Ramada
The war against drug abuse cannot be complete without a proper & effective rehabilitation program. Over the years many young people have been damaged by the epidemic. Don’t expect them to change overnight because one of the many drugs they abuse is banned. They need urgent help.
