Borno youths consume lizard dung, urine, mentholated spirit, others to get high – NDLEA
"Others include Lipton soaked in gin, camel urine, mentholated spirit in soft drinks, 10-day-old human urine, and so on," NDLEA stated in a statement.
According to the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency, youths in Borno drink fermented human urine kept for days and other substances instead of hard drugs.
In a statement issued in Maiduguri on Thursday, NDLEA commander of narcotics in Borno, Iliyasu Mani, bemoaned the prevalence of psychoactive substance addiction among adolescents.
The commander further disclosed that they intoxicate themselves with strange stuff such as lizard excrement, camel pee, Lipton soaked in gin, mentholated alcohol mixed with soft drinks, inhaling toilet smells, and gutter muck, among others.
Mr Mani said,
“Let me state categorically here that these new psychoactive substances that are commonly abused today include cannabis sativa, skunk, cough syrup with codeine; Ice, Tramadol, Rohypnol, Diazepam, Pentazocine, rubber solution, glue, gutter dirt, toilet fumes, lizard dung.
“Others include Lipton soaked in gin, camel urine, mentholated spirit in soft drinks, 10-day-old human urine, and so on.”
Noting his command’s hard battle against drug abuse, Mr Mani admitted that “the issue of substance abuse is even getting challenging, especially with the involvement of young teens in the abuse of new psychoactive substances, especially women.”
“Despite all these, we must not lose our hope as the agency has strengthened its efforts towards prevention strategy through the establishment of remodelled counselling/rehab centre within the premises of Borno state command,” the commander said.
According to him, the command had seized 4.5 tonnes of illicit substances and arrested 863 suspects, out of which 53 had been convicted, while 736 are undergoing counselling.
Mr Mani, however, added that the command had established drop-in centres across all tertiary institutions to serve as drug abuse research centres.