Don warns Nigerians against use of sex enhancing drugs
A professor of medicine and Pharmacology, Delta State University, (DELSU), Abraka, Prof. John Ohaju-Obodo, has warned Nigerians to desist from using sex enhancing drugs, popularly called aphrodisiac, and engaging in self-medication as such practices would lead to untimely deaths.
While saying that over five million Nigerian men live on sex enhancing drugs, Professor Ohaju-Obodo said using sex performance enhancing drugs was harmful to the health because it has some toxins that are detrimental to the health, adding that even though they appear to serve the purpose for which they were taken, there was usually serious after effects of their consumption.
The don, who made the call in Abraka at the weekend while presenting the 54th inaugural lectures of the Delta State University, Abraka, titled, ‘This Same Medicine (Drug): Efficacy Versus Untoward Effects’, warned that every drug was a potential poison, hence in taking any drug, a user must bear in mind that it may be beneficial or detrimental to him or her.
“For some drugs that have narrow therapeutics index, in fact the dosage that is required to produce the good effect that you desire is not different from the one that will cause some harmful effects. We must be conscious in this regard to avoid the harsh negative effect that accompanies the usage of drugs.
“It should be noted that the adverse effect of some drugs may even be worse than the diseases. For instance, a person may complain of a little pain in the ankle and instead of trying to deal with it by taking paracetamol or something. You give that person a strong inflammatory drug and it results in some gastrol intestinal bleeding, what you have caused is actually worse than the disease you are trying to treat.”
He advised that before using a drug, the benefits must be weighed against the anticipated risks, pointing out that it is only when this balance was favourable, and other conditions satisfied, that the drug should be used.
“The possibility of treating this balance negatively is greater under self-medication, quackery, error medication and fake drugs, of them all self-medication is very rampant in our environment. We must know that drug therapy involves more than marching the name of a drug to the name of a disease. We live in an era where many of us even among the educated elites can just pick a text book or a computer and read about the clinical features of a particular disease and, by a further check can download a list of drugs that may be useful in that condition.
“A book or a literature can provide knowledge and could contribute to the formation of judgment, but it can do little to impart skill and wisdom, which are the products of specific training, acquired capabilities and experience.”
The professor of medicine and pharmacology warned that educate elites, no matter how educated they are, should not dabble into the business of medicine, especially if they don’t have the requisite knowledge in the profession.
He said the business of prescription, dispensing and administering drugs should not be taken lightly, adding that therapy should be done after a thorough medical examination involving the history, taking, bio-data of the patient, analysis among other relevant information before a drug could be administered to avoid any health situation.
He, therefore, called on prescribers, dispensers, patients and the public to undergo continuous education on issues related to rational use of drugs, noting that there should be effective legislation and appropriate enforcement of all issues relating to drug use, both in the orthodox and traditional settings of health care delivery.
