Sisi Grace is a beautiful woman. She has a tall, quiet elegance about her that does not in any way understate her exquisite features. Sisi Grace in her youth was drop dead gorgeous and a beauty that can contend at any level of beauty competition.
Sisi Grace enjoyed her youth perhaps a little too much. Later in her years, she realized she needed to have a child and she was able to have a son. This son, David, grew up well and was intelligent. He had everything that he could desire without being spoilt and went on to gain admission into one of the prominent Universities in the country.
One day, Sisi Grace got a call that she would never forget for the rest of her life. The call came from the university where her son studied, asking her to come immediately because her son was in a critical condition. Sisi Grace called on her neighbor, a man whose family she had befriended, to come and help her; and together they set off to the university.
When they got to the University, what they saw was indescribable. It was a literal coming alive of the worst nightmare that any mother could have. David was totally out of it. His eyes were dilated, he was violent and all he kept saying was, “water! water! I am burning! I need more water!” The other students continuously poured water upon him and gave him bottles after bottles to drink. David was drinking gallons and gallons of water but kept asking for more, rolling on the ground violently, screaming off his head with everyone trying hard to control him. It was not even possible to convey David from the campus in his condition. He needed to be sedated and subdued before they could get him out of the state.
David was eventually bundled up and taken to the hospital. Unfortunately, there was really not much the hospital could do for him. They asked Sisi Grace to take him home and wait for the effect of whatever he ingested to wear off. Sisi Grace took her son home and neighbours and friends gathered to keep vigil with her, praying ceaselessly, calling on God to have mercy on poor, young David.
In the early hours of that morning, David stopped moving. His eyes were permanently open.
Alas! David had lost his life. Young David was gone and Sisi Grace’s life has totally crumbled. She has lost the will to live and at this time, Sisi Grace is on suicide watch because nobody believes she would survive the death of this only child of hers that she had invested so much in.
So the question is, what happened to David?
And the answer is as follows.
David came into the university and it was his first time to leave the nest and the protection of his mother. Of course, he was friendly. He was a handsome boy. A male version of Sisi Grace; tall, very sociable, really handsome and made friends easily. David went to a party and unbeknownst to him, a substance was added to the punch to spike it.
This substance is methamphetamine (aka, mkpurummiri in Nigerian parlance).
David consumed this drink innocently without knowing it was spiked with this dangerous substance and that was where his problem started. His friends tried to hide it for as long as possible, so as not to get into trouble, until it became obvious that David’s condition had gotten out of hand.
So, due to the exuberance of someone, and through no fault of David, he lost his life and his mum is now devastated.
The menace of mkpurummiri is real, not only in the Southeast but the entire country. It has come to destroy our young people. It has come to destroy even middle-aged people. A lot of people have lost their lives directly or indirectly to mkpurummiri. A lot of innocent souls have been lost to this drug. For example, recently, there was a story of a young man who encountered another young man who was happily and innocently working on his farm. He attacked him and beheaded him, all because he was under the influence of mkpurummiri.
Another story trended of another young man who took mkpurummiri and killed his two brothers and his mother. In other words, he annihilated his entire family all because of mkpurummiri.
Those innocent people who died are victims. They did not take the drug, neither did they ask their attackers to take the drug. This is to show that the effect of mkpurummiri is beyond the person taking the drug. The effect boomerangs or spills beyond the person taking the drugs, into an innocent society, sometimes wreaking havoc in a proportion that is almost impossible to recover from.
I have seen videos where the youth taking this drug as well as the dealers are publicly beaten, flogged and shamed. I am not quite sure that this is the answer to this devastation. I think we need a lot of orientation. We need to teach our young ones to be careful. For example, in David’s case, he did not do anything wrong. He did not knowingly consume this drug, he was just an innocent kid doing what kids do: partying.
When you go to parties, do not accept drinks that are not corked or sealed. Do not drop your drink to go anywhere. A lot of people have fallen victim to terrible vices as a result of leaving their drinks unmanned even for a minute. While some people may come to the university from good backgrounds and are just young people being young people, some others are there with diabolical plans and are capable of evil that we cannot even wrap our minds around.
We have to teach our young people to be careful and not fall victim to these ‘humans of prey.’
Mkpurummiri is dangerous. Drugs of any kind are dangerous. It is time for our youth to sit up, be serious and shun drug abuse.
Things can easily get out of hand when people are under the influence of drugs.
This mkpurummiri is so strong, so powerful and so bad that for some people it takes just one try and that is it for the rest of their lives to be over.
The addiction level of this drug is very high. It is very easy to get addicted to and extremely difficult to break away from. A lot of people go in and out of rehabilitation (rehab) centres. I have seen many cases of children of high profile people going in and out of rehab and it is doubtful that they would even really be properly rehabilitated. A little bit of temptation is enough to push one over the edge.
To young people, especially those in tertiary institutions, I would really advice that you shun excessive alcohol, shun excessive partying, be very careful when people give you something to eat or drink, be vigilant with the kind of company you keep and do not think that all friends are friends. Some are actually destructive enemies pretending to be friends.
A word they say is enough for the wise, and so I would be signing off with these few words of advice.
I do hope that we will all make our own efforts even as we pray for God to continue to protect us.
I cannot run off, though, without strongly commending the larger-than-life presence and effort of Brig. Gen. Mohammed Buba Marwa (rtd), the chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and his men.
He has woken up the agency and is leading the fight against illicit drugs in a way the country has never experienced before.
Kudos to you all and please don’t relent for the sake of our collective future.
