The line between your child and drug abuse is very thin. Several children all over Nigeria are hooked onto either Tramadol or Codeine, which they believe make them high and enhance their sexual performance. But what they fail to understand is there is a consequence for every action. Ms. Oluwatosin Fatungase, is a Pharmacist and Teen Behavioural Coach. She is also passionate about helping teenagers discover themselves. In this interview with our Assistant Editor, CHINWE MADUAGWU, she talks about some of the challenges teenagers struggle with and how they can be guided to overcome them.
TNE: When you say you’re a teen behavioural coach, what does that entail?
That means that I help teenagers discover who they are and I get to motivate them to make positive decisions so that means that I deal with issues that affect teenagers like peer pressure, low self esteem, self discovery, career choice, addiction, things that affect them, I just try to help them see the positive side of it and know the consequences of their actions.
TNE: For how long have you been doing this and why did you go into it?
I really can’t count the number of years but I remember I started when I was in my 3rd or 4th year in school and I graduated like six years ago, so maybe nine years. While I was in the University of Lagos I wanted to give back to my Alma Mata; go back to my secondary school, talk to the students, help them to discover themselves, motivate them positively, but it remained a dream. Later, a very close friend of mine told me she wanted to give back to her own Alma Mata which was Queen’s College, Yaba, and I encouraged her. Since I didn’t run with my dream, I was ready to give her all the support I could.
That dream came through when the Christian fellowship of Queens College gave her an opportunity to come and present something to the student. She asked me to go along with her since I had been encouraging her and I accepted, believing it would be a one off thing. We went and presented a movie and at the end of the movie the number of girls that came out for counselling was close to 100 and we couldn’t finish. It was so overwhelming; the things we were hearing, the kind of issues the girls were going through. At that point, we felt it shouldn’t be a one off thing.
It became an every Saturday thing and almost every Sunday thing and I continued from there till I went for my service. Before then though, people were like is it only Queen’s College girls you’re going to be talking to, I started going to other schools to encourage them and since then I haven’t looked back.
TNE: What is it like working with teenagers?
It’s interesting and exciting. I won’t deny the fact that teenagers can be stubborn, but I understand why they are stubborn. I understand that they are going through a phase where they’re trying to discover themselves, their hormones are bursting to and fro. But I like the challenge whereby I can see the issues that teenagers are facing and let them know that irrespective of these issues they can work with it. I go for trainings, read online, research and spend a lot of time with teenagers. The time I spent with Queen’s College girls really built me up because for some of the teenagers then I was on their case for three years consistently every Saturday and Sunday. Knowing a teenager’s predisposition to certain things, I can say this is what a teenager will do, this is what the teenager might be experiencing and all that.
TNE: While talking about some of the challenges teenagers face, you mentioned addiction. How serious an issue is addiction with the teenagers?
The thing is that teenagers are addicted to so many things; TV, games, shows; and they are also addicted to drugs and though not so common, cocaine and weed. They might taste these but they are much more addicted to things like cigarette, alcohol maybe Tramadol, cough expectorant with codeine or ordinary cough expectorant.
This is something we see on a regular basis. At the pharmacy, you see young persons coming in to get any of the codeine expectorants, but because a lot of pharmacists saw that the demand was on the increase they made it very expensive and began to insist that such could only be bought on prescription. Still they could get it from road side hawkers and chemists and after a while they found something else; they found Tramadol, and plain cough expectorants. What they do is buy the expectorant and pour the entire bottle into a bottle of mineral (soft drinks) of their choice.
These are things I see regularly and for me it’s heart breaking because I’m not just a pharmacist, I’m also a teen behavioural coach. It has really become an epidemic and we can’t deny it. Recently, a friend tagged me and said I should watch a post about a guy that was over dosed on Tramadol 200mg and tried to machete someone. A lot of young people have reached out to me telling me how they almost died of overdose of Tramadol. Someone still reached out to me also recently telling me that they mix Tramadol with codeine and some other funny things; it’s getting bigger and bigger so we need to let people know that there is something going on and we have to be aware especially with the teenagers and youths.
Parents have to know and understand that if a child is behaving erratically something might be causing it not just the fact that there’s peer pressure. They need to ask questions like; is my child addicted to Tramadol, is my child addicted to Codeine, what is it? If you’re always seeing your child with a bottle of coke you ask him to give you some to drink, you have to find out, you have to know because there are so many young people addicted to it.
TNE: What are the signs or symptoms that people should look out for to tell them that okay this is not just a teenager behaving like one, there’s something else behind this kind of thing?
The thing is that you really might not see the signs. It’s just that for me as a pharmacist I just recognize someone that has really gone far into it. For instance, when such a person comes and he/she has not had it for a day, because the person is dependent on it, he/she is quite anxious and perhaps trembling a little bit. But for a parent or anybody outside you might not really know or see the signs except you are very close to the person and you know the person to be calm or normal and all of a sudden the person behaves anxiously at a particular period of time. So I just advice parents to be very watchful and observant ,you have to know, you have to ask questions, try starting conversations with the teenagers about subjects like use or abuse of certain drugs like Tramadol.
TNE: I know you’re not a psychologist but can you guess why teenagers think they need these drugs ?
I’ve asked a few of them and from their responses it boils down to the fact that it gets them high. One effect of Tramadol or codeine is drowsiness. They are also addictive that’s their nature. If you take it the first time, you feel that you’re okay and you keep taking it at a dosage of 50 milligrams perhaps. At some point that dosage may not give you the effect that you really want so you increase it. Tramadol usually comes in 50 milligrams a capsule or 100 milligram, recently I was told by some senior pharmacists that the addicts are now looking for 200 milligrams or more per capsule and I was shocked. Not too long after that conversation, someone came and told me that he needed Tramadol of 200 milligrams meaning that they are likely taking 2000 milligrams because there are 10 capsules in a pack.
If they see 250 milligrams that means they’re taking 2500 milligrams. If you take just a single 50 milligram capsule you will feel drowsy, now imagine what 1000 milligrams will do to you or 2000 milligrams and you know when you get addicted to something you always start increasing the dose to get to that stage of highness that you require. Some say it makes them work for long hours while some say it makes them become a sex machine, they can have sex for long periods of time.
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TNE: I’m sure the drugs have the dosage and are meant for certain health conditions, what are the side effects. Besides making them high, can they cause any serious damage to person if abused?
Yes they can. Tramadol is a pain killer, for moderate to severe pain. Usually when somebody gets the prescription it’s for a few days. If the doctor wants you to continue when the person goes for review the doctor will renew the prescription. It’s not something to be taken for a long term or permanent use and it’s based on a prescription. So, now, with the side effects of drowsiness and the person gets to overdose on Tramadol, you will see that the person will have trouble sleeping at some point, the person will have issues with breathing, even slow or regular heart beat and the person can have seizures. A guy told me once that he had taken an overdose of Tramadol and began convulsing and if not that he was rushed to the hospital he would have died. When people abuse Tramadol they do it together, imagine if someone is convulsing, everybody will run away because nobody wants to get into a police case and from that stage the person will likely enter into a coma or actually die; so those are the effects.
TNE: What is the way out of this problem?
Seeing a counsellor for those that have challenges because Tramadol or even the cough expectorants as well as the other addictive things they use, are not a life problem solvers. I know that most pharmacies don’t sell drugs like codeine and Tramadol without the doctor’s prescription, there are still some that sell without prescription, for those ones I would suggest that the government should look into them and actually do something about them. For the road side sellers, I don’t think there is really anything anyone can do about them because it is impossible to say that you want to catch all those that sell drugs without prescriptions. It has not happened in the most developed countries of the world not to talk about our developing Nigeria. Companies should also take records seriously especially transactions of these types of drugs .
You keep talking about addiction to drugs so what exactly is substance abuse?
Substance abuse is a general term for abuse of substances, drugs inclusive. I had an experience of someone mixing weed with noodles when I was younger. Some people do funny things so generally people abuse a lot of things, but they have to know that there is a consequence for every action. Some people actually give you the response that something must kill a man. Everybody has their own life to live and we understand that but we also know that every life is important; you must have something to offer to your family, your nation and even yourself.
TNE: We’ve talked about the teenagers being under a lot of pressure and we know that there is so much information out there that they are processing, would you say that technology contributes to this addiction or this feeling that I really need something to help me cope?
I don’t really think that the internet has really contributed to Tramadol or codeine abuse. I would actually say that it is really a word of mouth thing where they get the suggestions from their friends and mates so it’s more of the word of mouth. Even for me, I didn’t know that if you took 10 capsules of Tramadol you would get high, someone told me.
TNE: How did they arrive at that?
I think the knowledge came about through curiosity and real trial. I heard some people smoke burnt tires so other people must have heard about it and tried it and that’s how these things spread.
TNE: Generally, how do you see the future of the youths or teenagers?
If it were before, I would have said that this generation is corrupt or bad. But now I would just say that whatever issues we are facing can be resolved and the future is bright for them. People think that the way we create awareness would even make people try the drugs but all we can say is that we are just trying to raise awareness for the teenagers and even the parents to get closer to their children. I think the major problem is from self discovery because if you don’t know who you are then you will follow anybody that will adopt you and it might not be Tramadol, it might be something else, there is even Shisha.
So there are different things that would be discovered or even be created to make people high or happy momentarily but the thing is that parents need to get home and sit with their teenagers and talk with them about these things because if you hide it from them they will find out from someone else. So, tell them about the drugs and the effects and try to discourage them from trying it to prevent addiction. The thing is that when a person becomes addicted it’s quite difficult to stop. Sincerely, it’s not even advisable to tell people to just stop, there is a process.
TNE: What is the process?
The process involves seeing a doctor and also likely seeing psychologist or even a psychiatrist depending on how far the person has gone one should not just stop because there are also withdrawal symptoms. So see a doctor to put you through the process and monitor you, you also need to get rid of those things or even people that encourage you to abuse these drugs.
TNE: In all, these things you’re doing, coaching the youths, dealing with them, trying to create awareness, what’s your greatest challenge?
There are so many challenges to be honest especially with combining work. At the initial stage I didn’t want to work, I just wanted to do business and focus on teenagers because I saw that their issues were enormous. But I found out that schools were not being responsive, they would not just allow you reach out to their teenagers even though you have a noble thing you want to do with them. Parents too are not really responsive; they are not willing to pay for seminars. There are things I can do for free but when it comes to consistent coaching of the teenagers they have to pay. Also, this campaign that I’m running now is from my pocket. At some point a couple of years ago, I realised that I have to work to fund my dream, I’m working and doing business to fund my dream.
Basically, funds and support from people and parents are part of my challenges. It’s getting better though with people reaching out, but still a lot of parents are not willing to go for seminars and trainings for themselves and for their teenagers and I think it’s very wrong. I’m a pharmacist, but I go for trainings. Even though I understand teenagers I still go for seminars and I pay heavily for them because I believe that these teenagers need the best so I have to be the best at what I do. I have to make sure that I understand them fully.
Teenagers have so many ‘role models’ they see on TV, but are these the kind of role models we want them to emulate? For me, to say I want to impact these teenagers positively, I have to go out of my way to invest in myself so that when I reach out to them I am making sense to them. Parents are not willing to invest in their own parenting development that would help them bond better with teenagers. If you understand teenagers, they are the best to work with and if you can get your teenager on your side, nothing can turn him/her away from you.
I encourage parents to go for seminars and read books on parenting, understanding teenagers and teenage psychology. If you can be on a career part and go for trainings, then your teenager deserves more.