EFFECTS OF DRUG ABUSE (TRAMADOL CANKER)

Drug abuse is a social menace which has plagued our youth in recent times. Substance/drug abuse could be explained as the excessive consumption or misapplication of chemicals or substances, usually for nontherapeutic purposes. From the countryside to the metropolitans and municipals we see unnatural faces worn by our future leaders. Surprisingly, these future leaders are already leading us today in the drug business. What at all do they gain by indulging in these obnoxious demeanours? I was told that they harvest a lot from their life-threatening practices. We could say that but maybe, we are rather in oblivion. Ladies and gentlemen, you might want to wear tramadol shoes before we embark on our trip to drug abuse. In a few minutes’ time we shall explore and discover the whys and repercussions of this shear waywardness. To confess, I feel insecure, tackling this topic. I am beginning to fear for my life as I set out to publish the ills of useless and aimless madmen who multiply themselves like cancerous cells. However, I take courage to console myself when I’m reminded that most abusers of these drugs have no idea what they are consuming into their systems. All they care about is the high feelings arising from the overdose of these drugs.

My English dictionary defined tramadol as a ‘synthetic analgesic opiate used for the relief of pain’. Ha-ha! I couldn’t hold my laughter after reading this too technical definition. Anyway, I understood that tramadol is painkilling drug. At that instance, I began to question how a painkiller drug managed to become so ubiquitous in an environment of pharmacists. In the meantime, we can assume that tramadol is a lethal weapon which accidentally landed in the wrong hands. Due to improper regulation and prescription of tramadol, its relatively young patrons have resorted to using tramadol as a facial mask to conceal their normalcy in order to commit felonies.

The effects of tramadol could either be positive or negative depending on who is using it and how much of it is consumed. It’s advised that tramadol shouldn’t be given to minors. Even though, tramadol isn’t an illicit drug; it’s a misused painkiller. Drugs.com listed some side effects associated with tramadol as anxiety, constipation, hallucination, nausea and many more. Abusers of tramadol usually take it in excess to feel high or lesson severe pains. As a physicist, I won’t be in a comfortable position to scientifically elaborate on the pharmacological effects of this drug. So I will focus on the physical or social effects of tramadol abuse.

Hallucination is one side effect associated with tramadol abuse. I have seen people perceive unrealistic or non-existing things. It is easy to identify them by their confused, dazed and stupefied composure. Nothing is more dangerous than a man who is hallucinating. What if he picks up a machete and starts slicing people because he sees them as lawns?  No one will enjoy such experience as a victim receiving multiple cutlass wounds from an idiot who misidentifies you as a weed in his farm. Overdose of tramadol could also retard consciousness, making its users prone to lose sight of their environment. For example, imagine an overdosed and unconscious tramadol abuser using a highway as a pedestrian. No one needs to force to you predict the calamity that could befall such a corpse. It’s definitely obvious that such a disordered person on the road might mistake a speeding vehicle as a grinding mill. The worst case scenario could even be that a hallucinating tramadol-overdosed driver is plying the road and you happen to be a hapless pedestrian on that road. Assuming you are not the prayerful type who keeps in touch with your ancestors, you can be sure that your spirit will hate you that day.

There have also been situations where tramadol abusers fell into sleep for several days. Other users have reported breathlessness after abusing tramadol. I think the goal of such victims here is to die and end their suffering. But why are they in hurry to leave us alone? Death is not a choice, it’s an automatic rite which marks the end of human accomplishment. You have no right to die if you haven’t accomplished nothing. The police service should reflect about arresting and prosecuting corpses of tramadol abusers. That might solve the problem.

Apart from the unflinching desire of tramadol abusers to reduce our human population, there is no sense in carelessly taking a drug which alters the mechanics of your heart. Assuming the entire world overdoses tramadol and goes into deep sleep. Who will work to feed the other? This nonsense must stop. My research from drugs.com also showed that imbalanced movement is another manifestation of tramadol abuse. Given this information, I would like to caution my dear readers to be extra careful when they meet a young man in staggering motion. The next plan of action of such a physically unstable person might be highly unpredictable.

About two years ago, I went to a community in western region, Ghana. I guess the name of the place is Japa. Over there, we got ourselves so busy with menial physical work, ranging from construction, farming and whatnots. One day, I got a digging contract from a building contractor in Japa. I went to the site with my tools and met other workers. When we finally started jobbing, it was a breathtaking experience. An undoped Bob Bright quickly got exhausted in a matter of few hours. What surprised me most was how the other workers destroyed the work tirelessly without going for a break. It was as if they were machines that were fueled and ignited. They dug the ground mercilessly while chanting invigorating songs. I felt I was the weakling among them until I was later tipped that those untiring workers had drugged themselves with tramadol. It was apparent that they abused the painkilling effect of tramadol to help them endure the severity of the task we were instructed to accomplish. When we closed from work and left for home that evening, I had already advised myself that I wouldn’t be going to work the following day with those indefatigable perpetual motion machines.

When day finally broke, I visited my boss to inquire about the whereabouts of my coworkers. Shockingly, he relayed to me that Zigler, Patoo, Tony and others were hospitalized the previous night. When I interrogated to know more about the reasons for the mass hospitalizations, the answers ranged from fainting, indigestion and irregular heartbeats. It didn’t take me long to quickly realize that they were only harvesting the fruits of their labour. I cried happily for them for that day. Nobody is sillier than a fool who drugs himself to death.

Finally, I must mention that tramadol addiction and general drug abuse paves way for social vices such as armed robbery, prostitution, rape, murder and other bad deeds. These drug related crimes occur notwithstanding the slow death that is already killing the abusers of these drugs. The Ghana Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) as well as Pharmaceutical Agencies must liaise with police and all stakeholders to flush out this thorn in our flesh. We have had enough of the premature deaths and the loss of productivity.

SAY NO TO DRUG ABUSE, especially Tramadol

Writer: Robert Abalungo (Bob Bright)

BSc. Physics, KNUST

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