Washington Post: Nigeria bans codeine cough syrup to stop an addiction epidemic. But something worse could take its place
“…Nigerian lawmakers estimate that the residents of just two states in the country’s north consume more than three million bottles of [codeine cough syrup] each day. … Now the country’s health ministry has banned the import and production of the painkilling medicine-turned-street-drug. … But the ban might not do much to end Nigeria’s pharmaceutical-addiction problem. ‘The cough syrup challenge is just a symptom of a faulty system,’ said Adeolu Ogunrombi, a project coordinator at Youth RISE Nigeria, an organization that researches drug-policy reform. … ‘There is still a huge demand, and a criminal market is going to spring up to meet the needs of the users who are in need of the substances,’ he said…” (O’Grady, 5/4).