IN THE back streets of Lagos, Ruth has come to a rehabilitation centre to clean up. She is educated and articulate, but because of her heroin addiction she has never managed to hold down jobs for long. She has sold her clothes, laptop and telephone to pay for her habit. But after a decade of misery she has had enough.
She is one of a multitude of west African addicts whose habit is fed by the proliferation of narcotics. Cannabis has always been rife in the region, but a rise in the pace of trafficking has brought in harder stuff such as cocaine and heroin. In the past decade, drug barons have been peddling their goods through west Africa to feed hungry markets in Europe and North America.The UN reckons that cocaine worth $1.25 billion passes through west Africa every year, more than the national budgets of several countries in the region. At the same time, local production of amphetamine-type stimulants such as ecstasy is growing, too. Altogether, more drugs are available than ever.
There are almost no data on drug abuse, but experts agree it is increasing. Users who once smoked cannabis now drop into drug dens known as "joints" to take hits of...Continue reading
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