Pubdate: Sun, 22 Apr 2007
Source: Daily Sun (Nigeria)
Copyright: 2007 The Sun Publishing Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.sunnewsonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3940
Author: Olatunji Ololade
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

GANJA PARADISE

The Story of Nigeria's Hemp Market

Worldwide, cannabis is outlawed and effort is being  made to rid the 
globe of the intoxicant but in Nigeria,  the plant remains a consumer 
delight encouraging its  cultivation both for consumption and export. 
Weekly  Spectator takes you on a sojourn through Akerele 
in  Surulere, Lagos, one of the country's thriving hemp  markets and 
the dangers of failing to nip the cancer in  the bud.

This is the dream of a hemp dealer; to see the sun rise  daily in its 
innate rosy magic while officials go to  work and market women hone 
their wit for the day's  bargain. He cherishes the blessed deluge. 
Students,  teenagers and adults, prostitutes, urchins, police 
officers and soldiers flock to his stall for their  daily fix of 
spiff. And Tajudeen Sule is up to the  task.

When duty calls, every other affair comes second. The  brown and 
greenish grain of Asian flora has never  failed him. Seventeen years 
on, he remains a consumer  delight. He lives well too. "No salary 
earner can live  like I live," the 32-year-old cannabis merchant 
boasts.  "Here, we live like kings. We live loud. Not that we  rob 
and steal. Business is just too good."

Welcome to the world of Sule, where heaven lies in the  thick and 
heady fume of spiff and hell blazes in the  glare of every 
marijuana-totting youth.

It is hot out there. It is very cold too. Bitter, noon  time heat and 
piercing, steely, coldness of hemp  peddlers who ply their trade in 
the slummy suburb of  Akerele, Agege, Lagos. Here, all things merge 
into one,  and a vileness runs through it all. Akerele is a 
constellation of hopefuls. A melting point of commerce  where Igbos, 
Yorubas, Hausas, Ijaws and other ethnic  nationalities jostle for 
their share from the much  touted promises of Lagos.

Within and around the neighbourhood, the shrill blare  of passing 
vehicles, the babble of the various cells of  makeshift markets, 
noise from the music shops, the  natters and wild altercation of 
passenger touts and  commercial bus drivers and the heady aroma of 
marijuana present a gross and squalid picture. And within the  chaos, 
a young secondary school dropout also makes a  living. His name is 
Taiwo, and he is Sule's younger  brother.

Like some heat-maddened summer fly, Taiwo bustles about  the hemp 
market striking deals, selling hemp and  puffing at his joint as an 
asthmatic, his inhaler. "I  have nothing to say. My brother has said 
it all. I am  very busy," says Taiwo as Weekly Spectator accosts him. 
Of course, the mad glint in his eyes emphasizes that he  wishes to be 
left alone. However, it is unclear whether  Taiwo expends his 
earnings on booze and easy girls like  most of his ilk or he saves a 
substantial part to cater  for his parents' needs like his sibling 
claims he does.

Ibrahim Atanda affects a slightly pleasant mien. The  31-year-old 
native of Lagos Mainland is eager to  please. Unlike most of his 
colleagues, his desires are  simple. "I enjoy myself too, but I don't 
like wasting  money. I just seek to make enough to feed my wife and 
two kids," he says. Then, he shuts himself in silence.  The kind of 
silence that speaks volumes, emphasizing  his delirium and the 
futility of coaxing him further.

Wonder what Ibrahim Tajudeen, a.k.a chairman, would  think. The 
godfather of the hemp dealers never admits  to his involvement in the 
hemp business. "I am a  businessman. I am also a movie producer among 
many  other things," he says in a clipped drone. Then he  reclines 
into his shell with a warning sneer in his  face.

If only he knew that his boys would be less discreet  about the exact 
nature of their business. Contrary to  their code of conduct, 
Tajudeen's boys ease on their  guard and warm up to the reporter. 
However, they refuse  to call the object of their trade by its 
popular names;  Indian Hemp, Eja, Pot, Hashish, Spiff, Marijuana, 
Obi, Cannabis or Igbo. Rather they refer to it as Oja  (merchandise).

And worthy merchandise it is that lures Samuel Wright,  an aspiring 
gospel musician and undergraduate of the  University of South Africa, 
UNISA, South Africa, from  his Iyana Ipaja neighbourhood to the 
crannies of  Akerele. "Hemp inspires. It relieves me of 
stress,"  says Wright. For N30 or more, he gets his daily fix 
of  spiff from Sule, his preferred dealer.

Although 19-year-old Tolani Shogade claims to be a  non-smoker, her 
blackened, caked lips and bloodshot  eyes suggests otherwise. "I just 
come here to see my  friend," she drawls before sauntering into the 
heart of  the market.

Despite the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency,  NDLEA's efforts at 
ridding the nation's streets of the  banned product, cannabis is 
still easily obtainable in  the country's major cities and suburbs. 
On the street,  a gram of marijuana is sold between N25 and N30. 
The  cost, however, reduces as the quantity demanded  increases. From 
Akerele, African Shrine, Agidingbi, and  Oshodi, among the various 
purchase points in Lagos to  Artillery Junction, Port Harcourt, 
Rivers State, and  Owerri, Imo State, the trade in cannabis enjoys 
a  sordid boom.

In Nigeria, cannabis is cultivated in the 36 states of  the 
federation for consumption and export although the  plant was 
introduced into the country in the wake of  World War II. Ever since, 
the country has improved in  its production of the intoxicant, 
recording the second largest cannabis seizure in Africa, after South 
Africa,  in 2004 and coming fourth in the world with 683, 
101  seizures; about 11 per cent of the total world 
seizure  according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and  Crime, 
UNODC, 2006 World Drug Report, WDR. Rather than abate, the wave of 
cannabis cultivation has enjoyed a  remarkable fillip within the 
country over the years  while the plant finds its way into the 
country's major  suburbs as well as the rural areas where it 
is  predominantly farmed.

Farmers make thousands of Naira for every bale of  cannabis grown and 
couriers make at least 400 per cent  profit in dispatches. Also, 
international export of the  product has increased as home-grown 
cannabis becomes  more popular as "the best in the world", reveals 
Okey  Ihebom, the Edo State commander of the NDLEA.

Raphael Okon, a courier based in Benin, Edo State,  maintains that 
cannabis cultivation is a worthwhile  venture that deserves 
government support. "Many people  take cannabis as intoxicant. Others 
use it to cure  various illnesses. It is also used in 
making  cosmetics," he says.

Locally, a 25-kilogramme sack of cannabis is sold  between N7, 000 
and N9, 000. The price varies in each  state. Packages meant for 
export are compressed. So  doing, a five-kilogramme parcel that 
normally, could  look bulky can be squashed and sealed with a tape. 
When  it is compressed, it becomes impossible to perceive the  aroma 
of the plant.

A bag of cannabis bought at N8, 000 from rural farmers  could be sold 
in a city like Port Harcourt at N25, 000  or more. When the same bag 
crosses to Borno or any  other northern state, the price could hit 
N35, 000 to  N40, 000. If compacted for export, a dealer could make 
as much as $ 5,000 or more on each package.

Cannabis smugglers have devised various means of  getting the banned 
plant to the points of purchase. For  instance, three years ago, a 
medic and policeman were  arrested after smugglers were found to be 
using an  ambulance belonging to the Supreme Court to smuggle  hemp 
into the market.

Also three mobile policemen in Afuze, Owan East local  government 
area of Edo State were arrested recently for  dealing in cannabis.

The police officers and the leader of a vigilante group  in the area 
allegedly stormed Ikhin, a community about  30 kilometres from Afuze, 
where they arrested a  cannabis farmer. It was reported that trouble 
started  when the police officers allegedly extorted an N80, 000 
pay-off and attempted to make away with bags of  cannabis after 
beating their quarry to a pulp. The  latter promptly reported to 
nearby Uzzeba Police  Station thus enabling the arrest of the policemen.

Currently, there are five states that are leading in  the production 
of cannabis in the country. They are  Edo, Delta, Ondo, Ekiti and 
Osun States. But the  cannabis being produced in Edo and Ondo States 
remain the best in the world. Hence, it is more expensive and  there 
is a market for it anywhere in the world,  discloses Ihebom.

The global demand for the country's cannabis makes the  control of 
its production, consumption and exportation  very cumbersome. The 
producers and peddlers are  desperate to go to any length to produce 
and get the  plant to the desired selling points. The drug peddlers 
operate in groups and they are swift to employ violence  in the face 
of daunting legal confrontation.

Apparently, the government's NDLEA-led campaign against  the 
cultivation and consumption of the banned substance  deserves some 
push. And noble as its intention is, the  government might need to 
broaden the sphere of its  campaign beyond the canker of cannabis 
farming and  trafficking. There are some related problems too. For 
instance, the Sule siblings, Atanda as well as their  colleagues in 
Oshodi finger unemployment as the major  reason for their involvement 
in the unlawful business.  However, Wright claims that his love for 
marijuana  stems from its exhilarating and therapeutic qualities.

For all its appeal, the dangers of smoking cannabis far  outweigh its 
benefits. First are its health  implications. Cannabis triggers rapid 
heart beat which  in some users can increase by as much as 50 per 
cent.  This causes strain for users with heart disorders and  can, at 
times, develop it. It also causes lower sperm  production in males, 
resulting in fewer normal sperm  cells and, if not well managed, 
impotency. Cannabis  tinkers with the balance of hormones that 
control menstrual cycles of females and it affects the 
brain  reducing logical thinking and calculation skills. Hemp  also 
impairs the user's brain, among many other  defects, reveals Soji 
Akinrinmade, an Egbeda, Lagos-based medical practitioner.

Then, there are the social implications, notes Beulah  Oginni, a 
Lantoro, Abeokuta, Ogun State-based social  psychologist. "Among the 
many side effects of hemp is  its capacity to make a deviant of its 
user. Cannabis  tilts the balance of chemicals that regulate mood, 
energy, appetite and attention. As a result, users are  likely to 
overreact or otherwise in situations  demanding tact and rationality. 
So doing, hemp smokers  are likely to commit acts of grave personal 
and social  consequences. Over time, they become misfits and some  of 
them just lose it," she warns.

It is possible for cannabis consumers to die of an  overdose. "This 
is because it is relatively cheap in  most markets. Nonetheless, in 
Nigeria, it requires as  little as N25 upwards to get it on the 
street. Hence  there is need for the government to further empower 
the NDLEA to comb the nooks and crannies of the country to  fish out 
cannabis farmers and peddlers for prosecution  suggests Dele Lawal, a 
secondary school guidance  counselor.

Theresa Essiet, a self-employed single mum would like  the NDLEA to 
clamp down on artistes and pop idols "who  are grossly misguided and 
constitute bad influence to  our youth. A good example is the late 
Fela Kuti. He was  supposed to be a role model but he led most of the 
youth astray. He was a hemp addict and our youth  respect and still 
see in him, a role model even in  death. That's a disaster," she laments.

Perhaps, she is right on mark, perhaps not. But  Augustine Ahmedu, 
a.k.a Blackface of the defunct  Plantashun Boiz musical group fame, 
would be no fan of  Essiet. Recently, in an interview with The Sun 
newspaper, he attributed his musical success to  marijuana. "What is 
wrong with Indian hemp? I smoke it  because it keeps me inspired and 
focused. Marijuana  made me and my woman to reconcile. As long as I 
am not  disturbing anyone with it, there should be no problem  about 
it. I like smoking it and it is a part of me,"  says Blackface.

And to the latter's role model and Afro beat music  legend, Kuti, 
cannabis was his "best friend because it  is a gift of the creator to 
Africans. It is a spirit.  Marijuana has five fingers of creation; 
it  enhances all your five senses," he noted.

Kuti couldn't be more apt in his description of the  intoxicant, at 
least to Atanda and Wright. However,  Sule dreams of the day he would 
quit the sale and  consumption of cannabis and take up a more 
respectable  vocation. " I would love to get a better job. One that 
is more respectable. If not, my wife will never agree  to bear kids 
for me. This is not the best I can do, but  it's better than robbing 
people. The government should  provide us good jobs and stable 
electricity. Then, the  artisans among us can go back to their 
vocations.  Because there is no work and electricity, most of us 
become bus conductors, agbero (passenger touts) and  armed robbers. 
But those of us that cherish our pride  do business (peddle 
cannabis)," he says.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom