MANY Igbo communities are currently facing the dangerous effect of Methamphetamine nicknamed by the youths as Nkpuru Mmiri which translates to seed of water.
Mkpuru mmiri is a crystal narcotic hallucinogen that is capable of destroying a person mentally. It is estimated that 75 percent of the users in our society are adversely affected. And they have become a burden to their families and communities.
According to drug literature, methamphetamine is a powerful, highly addictive stimulant that affects the central nervous system. The crystal form of the drug looks like glass fragments and is chemically similar to amphetamine, a drug used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy, a sleep disorder.
Addicts can take methamphetamine by smoking, swallowing, snorting or injecting the powder that has been dissolved in water or alcohol. The “high” from the drug starts and fades quickly, people often take repeated doses in a “binge and crash” pattern. In some cases, people take methamphetamine as a “run,” giving up food and sleep while continuing to take the drug every few hours for up to several days.
Methamphetamine affects the brain adversely. It increases the amount of a natural chemical called dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is involved in body movement, motivation, and reinforcement of rewarding behaviors.
The drug’s ability to rapidly release high levels of dopamine in reward areas of the brain strongly reinforces drug-taking behaviour, making the user want to repeat the experience.
Taking even small amounts of methamphetamine can result in the same health effects as taking cocaine or amphetamines. These include increased wakefulness and physical activity, decreased appetite, faster breathing, rapid and/or irregular heartbeat and increased blood pressure and body temperature.
Several questions concerning this scourge are in the public domain. One of the questions is whether Nkpuru Mmiri is sourced locally or imported into the country. Another question is, if it is imported, from which of the nation’s boundaries did they come in? If it is locally produced, where in Nigeria is it produced?
The National Drug Law Enforcement headed by Buba Marwa yesterday tried to answer these questions in their reaction which contained some details about the drug. The agency, through their spokesman, Femi Babafemi, sent the following as their reaction:
“Mkpulu Mmiri is the Igbo slang for Methamphetamine or Crystal Meth, a very dangerous illicit drug. It looks like Ice or white chalk crystal and sometimes can be blue. That is why the users sometimes refer to it as “ice.” It can be dissolved in water.
How Mkpuru Mmiri became popular in the Southeast of the country is still a mystery, although there were reports that barons form well organized cartels and distribution network are responsible for this drug destroying the brains of our youths.
Like wildfire, the effect of Nkpuru Mmiri has spread across most towns and even remote villages. It was even suspected that the hard drug contributed in no small measure to the problem of the unknown gunmen in parts of the South East in recent time, particularly in Anambra State before the recent governorship election in the state. Some people actually believe that only people who take such drugs could be killing people and destroying property without any provocation and without showing remorse.
