"Jet" <thatjetnospam at yahoo.com> skrev i melding
news:3D39EB47.ADB71BA4 at yahoo.com...
> >
> > Remember the witch-hunts ?
> > Burning at the stake ?
>> Remember the Berlin Wall?
You shouldn't talk too much............Nigger.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_2131000/2131440.stm
Wednesday, 17 July, 2002, 09:05 GMT 10:05 UK
Nigerians get high on lizard droppings
A cheaper way to escape from the realities of life
By Dan Isaacs
BBC, Kano
Three men sit on the ground inside a house.
Beside them is a bowl containing a bright blue liquid.
The lizard dung is the most important part of the mixture
Scattered around are various ingredients that go into the mixture:
Clothing dye powder, medicinal herbs and seeds and most bizarre of
all, lizard droppings.
In a nutshell, this is the source of the new "high" sweeping northern
Nigeria.
More often the problems of drug addiction are associated with inner
cities in the industrialised world.
But in the northern city of Kano, there is now an alarming increase in
the use of cheap household chemical products and other cheap but
highly toxic ways to get "high".
Nigerians are looking for thrills in strange places
"The lizard dung is the most important part of the mixture," one of
the men tells me.
"We take a bowl, and start by adding blue dye powder to some water.
"Then we take the seeds from this fruit - called Zaqami. It's a
powerful medicine.
"Next we take the white part of the lizard dung and crumble it into
the water. There are other things we can add as well, but this is ok.
"It's ready to drink now."
As the three men talk to me, they pass the bowl of blue liquid between
them, drinking it, then chasing the mixture down with handful of
peanuts.
They tell me it helps the overall effect - like drinking strong whisky
on a very hot day.
The effects will then have to be slept off in the afternoon.
Poverty
This is a social problem as much as it is a medical one.
Kano is a large sprawling city with very high levels of poverty and
unemployment.
Smoking away everyday miseries
And drug taking is a way to escape from the hard realities of life,
even if only for a short while.
Mansur Kabir is the minister of health in Kano state and his ministry
has been monitoring this dangerous trend among drug users in Nigeria.
"There's a big difference between the drug-taking in Nigeria and the
one in Europe.
"The expensive ones like cocaine and other dangerous drugs are not
available here because of their expense.
"So these young people tend to resort to cheap drugs - to drinking
excreta from animals, from dye products, things that one can never
imagine.
"They are potentially very dangerous to young people."
Mr Kabir fears that the problem may not go away soon.
Many Nigerians turn to drugs because of poverty and unemployment
"It has become a problem particularly within the last two to three
years - and it seems to be coinciding with increasing poverty and
decreased opportunities for employment.
"There is also a very high migration from rural to the urban areas."
This a pattern repeated in urban areas across Nigeria.
There is an army of underemployed youths - all hungry, many on drugs
and in need of money.
They are available for hire to politicians fighting election campaigns
- a recipe for instability.
Musa Sa'ad Mohammed, a health official in Kano, says he is very much
concerned about the potential for further violence in a city that has
seen more than its fair share of civil unrest over the years.
"There are lots of people with lots of energy, lots of ideas and lots
of potentials but cannot find work.
"Eventually what you find is a whole army of youth that are made to
use their energies and resources and capabilities negatively."
Vicious circle
My drug taking friends round off their day smoking joints of marijuana
laced with lizard dung.
They tell me that what they are doing is part of the everyday lives of
an increasing number of young men.
Lizard droppings are a cheap alternative to cocaine
"It's really widespread," one of them tells me.
"You see people at the weekly markets, sitting under a tree and mixing
these drugs.
"But you can't make a living, hold a job down, when you're under the
influence of these drugs all day."
His friend agrees:
"I know all these drugs are not good for me.
"Now that I'm married and have children, I've tried to stop.
"Look at me, I look old ahead of my time and I've been spending all my
money to buy these drugs."
This is not a problem that is being seriously addressed by health
officials in Nigeria.
They say fighting hunger and disease are a more important use of
scarce resources.
But it is nonetheless a serious and growing problem.
And one that has consequences both for the economy and social
stability across the country.
