Codeine users in Kano, Jigawa consume three to eight bottles per day
Codeine has become a hard substance of choice with over three million bottles of the syrup consumed daily in Kano and Jigawa States by women and youth, according to the Senate.
The revelation follows the adoption of a motion by Senator Baba Kaka Bashir Garbai and 37 others on the need to check the rising menace of pharmaceutical drug abuse among youth.
Research has shown that abusers of codeine syrup in Kano and Jigawa take around three to eight bottles per day.
Everybody in the healthcare team needs to communicate and work together to stop the abuse of common medicine in Nigeria.
Codeine-containing medicine, as many others, has a very important place in the treatment of day-to-day ailments like cough and making this inaccessible would just put additional burden on our health system.
It would be sad if the abuse by a relatively small percentage of people lead to this and other effective medicine not being available to the rest of the population who use it responsibly,
Codeine contains the cough suppressant DXM which, when taken in large amounts, can cause disorientation, slurred speech, blurred vision and vomiting.
