Abuse of codeine leads to brain damage, expert warns youths

Citing its health implications, health expert has warned youths in the country against codeine abuse, revealing that such could lead to brain damage and memory loss.

Besides organ damage, they were also warned that such habit could result into dependence and serious psychological injury, occasioning dysfunctional behavioural patterns such as hallucination and memory loss.

Chief Medical Director of the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, Dr Richard Adebayo who gave the warning in Lagos recently, described the menace of drug abuse among the youths as worrisome, stressing that the lives of future generation in the country was in serious jeopardy if left unchecked.

Adebayo said an urgent action must be taken to tackle codeine abuse among the youths to prevent the epidemic and rescue them and the country from a future of mental disaster.

Adebayo revealed that prolonged intake of codeine and tramadol drugs, cause serious brain and heart damage, stressing that the substances are capable of bending the mind and altering brain function.

He explained: “Codeine, like other abused drugs, are called psycho-active substances. What that means is that they are capable of bending the mind and altering the function of the brain.

“They achieve this by either stimulating or depressing the brain. Some of them stimulate the brain, like cocaine and cannabis. But if one continues to take drugs like codeine and tramadol, the brain becomes more and more depressed.

“The result of using these drugs that alter the function of the brain is the abnormal function of the brain like firing the neurons, creating over-excitement in the brain.

“When a student takes these substances, his brain will not rest when it is supposed to rest. Such a student is not likely to be attentive in class. He loses concentration. This also would affect the memory and the intellectual prowess of the individual. Invariably, this individual would find it difficult to cope with real life. He begins to make avoidable mistakes, take wrong decisions, because his sense of judgement is impaired.

The abuse of drugs among the youths has become a disturbing trend in Nigeria. This recently led to the federal government’s ban on codeine as an active pharmaceutical ingredient for making cough syrup.

Besides codeine, other drugs of abuse among the youth in Nigeria include; marijuana, cocaine, heroin, opium, alcohol, gum powder, inhaling of dry faeces, glue and Tramadol, among others, which have negatively impacted the health conditions of the youth and led to many deaths.