Mental Health Nurse raised alarm on high rate of substance abuse in Nigeria.

High Rate of Substance Abuse detrimental and disastrous to the future of Nigeria.  - Adekunle Akinola Bunmi

There is a serious problem building up in our society and no one seems to be taking it serious. We have a situation where it is easier and cheaper to procure cannabis, cigarettes and other psychoactive substances than to access and afford the basic psychotropic drugs. Now for the sake of clarity and those who are not health professionals, psychoactive substances cause psychosis and other Mental, Neurologic and Substance abuse {MNS} disorders while psychotropic medications play a significant role in their treatment. To worsen the matter, the cost of enrolling people who are addicted to substances into drug rehabilitation programs is making it look like it is a luxury. Also saddening is that law enforcement agents and agencies that are supposed to tackle the proliferation of availability of these{mostly} illegal substances have become partners in consumption and distribution with some of them being part of franchises within the distribution network.

Put simply or in lay man's terms, it is becoming increasing easier to run mad than to treat madness in Nigeria and our present health care system is not in any way supportive of the mentally ill clients. The rate of poverty in the land is so appalling that sometimes you see patients who can't afford to eat 2/3 meals {not even rectangular/circular talk less of what they call square meals} let alone afford treatment which sometimes cost less than #500/month {YES!!! five hundred naira per month}. And unfortunately, some of them will require treatment costing as high as #50,000 a month or more just because their body chemistry won't let them respond well to the cheaper medications. One would expect, like in sane societies, that the mentally ill is supported by the society and the government should exempt them from paying for their medical treatment but here we are that even the National Health Insurance Scheme is run in such a fraudulent way that mental disorders are not even covered under the scheme and these are patients whose nature of illnesses do not allow them to be productive enough even to feed themselves talk less of paying for treatment YET the person earning so much more than his generations to come will need {either by crook or legitimate means} get access to free treatment not for any illness but for cosmetic reasons at the expense of taxpayers' funds.

I fear for the future of our country especially now that substance abuse is so rampant that if you are not careful, you may be unknowingly ingesting very dangerous substances of abuse by simply sharing a birthday cake as it is now becoming the norm to lace celebration cakes with "weed" and sometimes crack. We may soon get to a time when the population of those of have MNS disorders will outnumber those who don't and then those who don't have a disorder will become the "abnormal" ones because it will then be perfectly normal to be high on psychoactive substances.

I use this medium to call on everyone, individuals and corporate organizations to raise awareness targeted at changes in policy and/or legislation, for as long as the cost of and access to cannabis is cheaper and easier than that of Chlorpromazine and Haldol, our society is being designed for self destruct.

AKINOLA ADEKUNLE BUNMI 

Mental Health Nurse