I was very young then when Kofi Takliko, my brother’s friend, came to our house one hot afternoon, running around in circles and unusually singing loudly: “Tititi tayey, tititi tayey” non-stop. He was eventually brought down and chained. He had tried the “thing” for the first time; it didn’t go well. It hit the central nervous system directly, and he went bonkers instantly.

Interestingly, the friends who introduced him to the thing were not hit immediately, but later on in life, their lives became basaaaa… A few ended up at Pantang, and those who could not afford it walked from Kisseman to Kumasi and back on foot. Nobody sent them, but “weed” did!

So, the trotro driver got upset with the mate (aplankey). Reason? The trip was from Madina to Accra, yet the mate was heard shouting and calling out for passengers: “Norway, Denmark, Spain… last two… going.”

The driver reprimanded the mate, and the mate indicated that anytime he takes the herb, he feels he is already approaching his dream country. That was the reason he was calling out the names of those countries instead of Circle.

The driver didn’t believe him, so he asked to try it himself and see if the feeling would be the same.

The driver took the first shot and told the mate: “But I am not feeling anything.”

The mate asked him to take a second dose. Still, the driver felt nothing.

The mate asked him to take the third shot, which he did, and in no time, the driver started screaming: “France, Japan, Ecuador, Egypt, Australia!”

It was confirmed! The thing had scattered their brains, making them feel they were travelling across the globe. In the case of the driver, he was moving to all the continents at the same time, unlike his mate, who was travelling only to Europe!

A few years later, the driver died from an overdose, while his mate went to jail. He used drugs and felt emboldened to commit crimes.

Ever heard of the city of Duran? It is a hub of illicit drug use and crime, in spite of the city’s known reputation for having an admirable railway system.

The drug menace is becoming scary in Ghana. The young ones, ei! Those in school and those just doing anything—even some women who want to fight depression and other ailments—take drugs to “forget” their problems, as one woman recently narrated on radio in Ghana.

This weekend, if you want the work done very well within a short time and at a cheap cost, please don’t hire a “leaves” smoker. Some of them have been adding “other things” too. They can work until “the thing” evaporates from their system.

I needed to do some work on my manhole, so I hired Yaw, a mason. The job needed at least two days to finish. Four bags of cement were provided—two per day. One mason and one labourer were required, according to the rule. Yaw was expected to look for a labourer to help him.

“They” were expected to start work on Friday and finish on Saturday. I visited the site in the evening and saw Yaw working alone. He was already working on the fourth bag of cement. The work was almost completed.

I asked where the other mason and labourers were. Yaw just smiled. I had assumed that Yaw had hired another mason and two labourers to finish the work once and for all in one day instead of the two clear days.

I asked him again where the others were. His response shocked me. He did everything by himself because he “hired” himself.

He later explained to me that until “the thing” evaporated, he had to continue working till the following morning.

Up till now, I don’t know what the thing is o. I can only suspect “that plant”. But I asked him what his secret was, and he mentioned “gban gban”.

I didn’t understand until recently, when I got to know that “gban gban” is the nickname for tramadol.

Then I remembered my tramadol experience.

I thought Yaw was a very hardworking person who had helped me save money until last month, when I was driving and got to the Adabraka Cathedral intersection of the road. And guess who I saw?

Yaw!

He was half-naked, holding a bowl containing different types of cooked food, including sand. He had gone bonkers! With only one “chale worte” on, I wept!

Look, we have a problem o. Until the clampdown is strong enough, we are destroying our youth. These drugs may serve their “purpose” now, but destroy them in the long run, guaranteed!

In my own case, I was just feeling a migraine. I complained about it while on public transport in another West African country on my way to the airport.

One of the commuters who heard me complain about the headache gave me a capsule, which he indicated was a painkiller. He gave me two and asked me to take only one, saying my headache and pains would vanish.

Indeed, the pain vanished in no time after taking one. I misplaced the other one.

I started feeling very light and experiencing some “good feelings”. I had concluded that this medicine was good.

But when I returned to Accra, I was feeling a bit drowsy and hyper at the same time. I was not sure whether I wanted to sleep or not.

When I slept that night, I slept quite well but felt I was dreaming about lions and tigers. I woke up feeling very fine but with a severe headache at the back of my head. I could feel the veins at the back of my neck stretched and elastic.

But I desired more, even though I did not know the name of the medicine until I returned to that same country last year.

In my hotel, I gave a description of the medicine to one of the guys I was watching a UEFA Champions League match with, and he said from the description of that “good medicine” I was talking about, he thought it was tramadol.

“Trama what?”

He said, “Dol!”

Wow!

Trust me, immediately, he gave me one as he had it in his pocket. The medicine dey biii waaa. It took me a lonnnng time to “land” when I was with my wife.

Looks like I had found a remedy to my two-minute wahala!

That was it.

I returned to Ghana and asked for tramadol and, to my surprise, it was easily available in various strengths. Fortunately or unfortunately, the pharmacist insisted on a prescription.

I begged her because I needed it just to feel good and high, maybe light.

She turned me down as I was neither in pain nor wanted it for someone in pain.

I hated the pharmacist as I saw her as being wicked to me.

That was what saved me.

I would have become an addict of this dangerous narcotic painkiller by now.

Abeg, let’s fight it harder and watch our children, especially those whose classmates may be coming from other countries. Its effects may be difficult to detect at the onset, as the main “symptom” is that it makes a hitherto lazy child become more active or more reserved and withdrawn.

Let us open our eyes before our eyes open us to a junky youth o. Yoo!

Some vendors of alcoholic beverages and cooked food are also suspected of adding dangerous substances to these consumables.

People are evil o.

No wonder the heavens gate has already been shut on most of us.

Good afternoon to all mothers who kept the meat away from us until we had to steal from the hot soup and burn our tongues!

And remember, before you take medication, first ask yourself whether you are sick.

Talk of sickness, it looks like there is general stomach sickness in the system, especially following the heavy rains o. We don’t know the sources of the water some food vendors are getting water from o.

It is not uncommon to find a good number of people complaining about typhoid-related ailments. I was a victim.

Let’s just be careful about where we eat from.

I entered some regular washrooms recently, and the stench hit differently—with swag and super-unbearable stench.

I think a lot of us are sick in the stomach.

Let’s not go for check-ups, and let’s pretend to be washing our hands thoroughly with soap under running water.

I pity water closets—they are in pains already.