You Can't Stop Mkpụrụmmiri with Cane, Tackle the Dealers First —ANSAA Boss, Emecheta Advises

By Izunna Okafor, Awka

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Anambra Signage and Advertisement Agency (ANSA), Chief Jude Emecheta has recommended tackling the dealers and sellers of crystal methamphetamine, popularly known as mkpụrụmmiri, as one of the surest ways of curbing the menace and trending issues of the dangerous hard drug ravaging the youths and the society at large today.

Chief Emecheta disclosed this in an interview with our reporter in his office in Awka, Anambra State capital; during which he advised the government and law enforcement agencies to first hunt for and deal with the manufacturers sellers of the hard drugs, who are the sources through which the users get and abuse them. 

He opined that some of the manufacturers and dealers tend to export the drug, but when they cannot do so due to restrictions, they end up selling it cheap locally, to the youths, to keep their business going.

Emecheta, who noted that the abuse of mkpụrụmmiri did not start today, recounted how some secondary school students abused and did many unimaginable things under the influence of the dangerous drug back then in secondary school; and further linked mkpụrụmmiri and other hard drugs to cultism, crime, other forms of social vices; as well as the massive destruction of property by the #EndSARS protesters.

He also debunked as a big lie, the defense mechanism by some youths who claim they take mkpụrụmmiri because of unemployment, or to enable them do hard jobs and work hard for a very long time without getting tired.

He highlighted the various effects of mkpụrụmmiri and other hard drugs in the society today, and further acknowledged that even the police and other law enforcement agencies are vulnerable and gripped with fears, which is the reason some community youths now take it upon themselves to curb the menace in their own way.

While appreciating youths of various communities for rising up against mkpụrụmmiri, he however belittled the efficacy of flogging and beating as a way of stopping drug abuse, and warned that such is not the ultimate solution to the problem, as it can be likened to using cane to conduct deliverance.

He said, “You can't use cane or beating to stop mkpụrụmmiri. It may only inject fear in some of the abusers who are new in the system, but they will surely go back to it after a short period of time. That is even for those who are new in the system. But it cannot work at all on those who are already seriously addicted to it, because it is impossible to flog out addiction with cane.”

“In the process of flogging and beating the person, you may even kill or inflict him with a life-time injury, as we have seen in recent time; and by so doing, your aim is defeated. That is why I don't think flogging is the best solution,” he added.

While noting that imprisonment of the abusers may not even also be the ultimate solution, Chief Emecheta also acknowledged that some who are into drugs did not wish so for themselves, but learnt it through peer group; and are ready and willing to also withdraw from it. 

He therefore called on the government, parents, churches, community and town union leaders to join hand in curbing the abuse mkpụrụmmiri and other hard drugs in a more effective way.

He further recommended praying for and counselling the abusers, denying them some rights, privileges and opportunities in the church, community and society, organising relevant workshops and seminars; as well as engaging the services of psychologists or taking them to rehabilitation centers when they show willingness to withdraw or when they start withdrawing from the act, so as to reduce the withdrawal syndrome that usually comes with it.