I was very young then when Kofi Takliko, my brother’s friend, came to our house one hot afternoon, running around in circles and unusually singing loudly: ‘tititi tayey tititi tayey’ non-stop. He was eventually brought down and chained. He had tried the ‘thing’ for the first time; it didn’t go well. It hit the central nervous system directly, and he was going bonkers instantly. Interestingly, the friends who introduced him to the thing were not hit immediately, but later on in life, their lives became basaaaaa…a few ended up at Pantang and those who could not afford it walked from Kisseman by foot to Kumasi and back…nobody send them but ‘weed’ did!
So the trotro driver got upset with the mate (aplankey). Reason? The trip was from Madina to Accra, yet the mate was heard shouting and calling out for passengers: “Norway, Denmark, Spain…last two…going”. The driver reprimanded the mate, and the mate indicated that anytime he takes the herb, he feels he is already approaching his dream country. The reason he was calling out the names of those countries instead of Circle. The driver didn’t believe him, so he asked that he would also try it and see if the feeling would be like that. Driver takes the first shot and told the mate: “But I am not feeling anything”. Mate asked him to take a second dose. Still, the driver felt nothing. Mate asks him to take the third shot, which he did and in no time, the driver started screaming: ‘France, Japan, Ecuador, Egypt, Australia ‘. It is confirmed! The thing has scattered their brains, making them feel they are travelling across the globe.
In the case of the driver, he was moving to all the continents at the same time, unlike his mate who was travelling to only Europe! A few years later, the driver died from an overdose, and his mate went to jail. He used drugs and felt emboldened to commit crimes. Ever heard of the city of Duran? It is a hub of illicit drug intake and crimes in spite of the city’s known reputation for having an admirable railway system.
The drug menace is becoming scary in Ghana. The young ones, ei. Those in school and those just doing anything – even some women who want to fight depression and other ailments take drugs to ‘forget’ their problems as one woman narrated recently on radio in Ghana.
This weekend if you want the work done very well within a short time at cheap cost, please don’t hire a ‘leaves’ smoker. Some of them have been adding ‘other things’ o. They can work till ‘the this thing’ evaporates from their system. I needed to do some work on my manhole. I hired Yaw, a mason. The job needed two days at least to finish. 4 bags of cement were provided – 2 per day. One mason, one labourer per the rule. Yaw was expected to look for a labourer to help him.
‘They’ were expected to start work on Friday and finish on Saturday. I visited the site in the evening and saw Yaw working, alone. He was already working on the 4th cement bag. The work was almost completed. Asked where the other mason and labourers were, Yaw just smiled. I had assumed that Yaw had hired another mason and two labourers to finish the work once and for all on one day instead of the two clear days.
I asked him again where the others were. His response shocked me. He did everything by himself because he ‘hired’ himself. He later explained to me that until ‘the thing’ evaporated, he had to continue working till the following morning. Up till now, I don’t know what the thing is o, I can only suspect ‘that plant! But I asked him what his secret was and he mentioned ‘gban gban’. I didn’t understand until recently when I got to know ‘gban gban’ is the nickname for trammadol. Then I remembered my trammadol experience.
I thought Yaw was a very hardworking person who has helped me to save money until last month when I was driving and got to the Adabraka Cathedral intersection of the road and guess who I saw – Yaw! He was half naked, holding a bowl with different types of cooked food items in it including sand – he has gone bonkers! With only one chale worte on, I wept! Look, we have a problem o. Until the clampdown is strong enough, we are destroying our youth. These drugs may serve their ‘purpose’ now but destroy them in the long run, guaranteed!
In my own case I was just feeling a migraine. I complained about it on board a public transport in another West African country to the airport. One of the commuters who heard me complain of headache, gave me a capsule he indicated was a pain killer. He gave me two and asked me to take only one and my headache and pains would vanish. Indeed it vanished in no time after taking one. I misplaced the other one. I started feeling very light and with some good ‘feelings’. I had concluded this medicine is good.
But when I returned to Accra, I was feeling a bit drowsy and hyper at the same time. I was not sure whether I wanted to sleep or not. When I slept that night, I slept quite well but felt I was dreaming about lions and tigers. I woke up very fine but with severe headache at the back of my head. I could feel the veins at the back of my neck stretched and elastic. But I desired for more even though I did not know the name of the medicine till I returned to that same country last year. In my hotel, I gave the description of the medicine to one of the guys I was watching a UEFA league match with and he said from the description of that ‘good medicine’ I was talking about, he thinks it is trammadol. Trama what? He said ‘dol’! Wow! Trust me, immediately, he gave me one as he had it in his pocket. The medicine dey biii waaa. It took me a lonnnng time to ‘land’ when I was with my wife. Looks like I’ve found a remedy to my 2 minutes wahala!
That was it. I returned to Ghana and asked for trammadol and to my surprise, it was easily available in various strengths. Fortunately or unfortunately the pharmacist insisted on a prescription. I begged her because I needed it just to feel good and high, maybe light. She turned me down as I was neither in pain nor wanted it for someone in pain. I hated the pharmacist as I saw her as being wicked to me. That was what saved me. I would have become an addict of this dangerous narcotic pain killer by now.
Abeg, lets fight it harder and watch our children especially those whose classmates may be coming from some other countries. Its effect may be difficult to detect at the onset as the main ‘symptom’ is that it makes a hitherto lazy child become more active or more reserved and withdrawn. Let us open our eyes before our eyes open us to a junky youth o, yoo!
Some vendors of alcoholic beverages and cooked are also suspected of adding dangerous subtances to these consummables. People are evil o. No wonder the heavens gate has already been shut on most of us.
Good afternoon to all mothers who kept the meat away from us till we had to steal from the hot soup and burn our tongues! And remember, before you take a medication, first ask yourself whether you are sick.
Talk of sickness, it looks like there is general stomach sickness in the system, especially following the heavy rains o. We don’t know the sources of the water some food vendors are getting water from o. It is not uncommon to find a good number of people who are complaining about typhoid-related ailments. I was a victim. Lets just not be careful where we eat from. I entered some regular washrooms recently, and the stench hit differently, with swag and super unbearable stench. I think a lot of us are sick in the stomach…let’s not go for a check-up and let’s pretend to be washing our hands thoroughly with soap under running water. I pity water closets – they are in pains already.
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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
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