Nigeria Bans The Sale And Importation Of Cough Syrup With Codeine

Here we go again with our half-assed solutions to serious problems. After the BBC’s eye-opening documentary about the widespread addiction of Nigerian youth to codeine, the Federal Ministry of Health has banned the importation of codeine as an active pharmaceutical ingredient in Nigeria, and the sale of cough syrup containing codeine to curtail the widespread abuse of the drug, especially by young people across the country.

The health minister also directed NAFDAC to stop the issuance of permits for the importation of codeine as active pharmaceutical ingredient for cough preparations. The minister said the directive became necessary as young people in the country have increasingly abused codeine, and also directed that codeine in cough syrup should be replaced with dextromethorphan which is less addictive. Lol.

This is actually right in line with our penchant to use band aids instead of just fixing the problem outright. You see, three million bottles of codeine cough syrup are drunk every day in Nigeria’s north alone, according to a recent Nigerian government report. This is not just a codeine problem, this is a drug addiction problem.

Why are people getting hooked on opioids like tramadol and codeine? What is the underlying cause? How many rehabilitation centres are there? What policies are in place that kick against the illegal sale and use of opioids without proper prescriptions? There was a pharmaceutical executive who sold “one million bottles of codeine a week” illegally, per the video.

He was fired by his employers. But shouldn’t he be prosecuted? Easy access to these abused substances is promoted by the chaotic drug distribution system, and a ban will not fix that!

If you ban codeine, the result is likely one of two things: people start finding ways to buy it creating a codeine black market, complete with king pins; or they just move on to another more attainable drug. See, a bottle of cough syrup costs N1000 – N2500, but a satchet of Tramadol is just N100. Addicts sniff glue, and fuel for a high!

Is the government going to ban pain meds, construction materials and crude oil as a whole, too?