ILLEGAL DRUG MARKETING

This post might not be a problem in your country if yours is a developed country that has strong laws against public unregistered drug sales and marketing.

For most African countries and slums around the world, this is rampant and is a daily experience.

Although, this might be argued to be a source of livelihood for thousands involved in this trade.

However, when it comes to human lives and health, I believe no reason is solid enough.

I’m going to buttress my point with real-life stories, research, personal experience, and interviews I did with people who had taken unregistered drugs.

Reasons Why You May Buy Drug In Public Transport

1. They are good marketers: First of all, they are going to give a good story of the village they came from;

How their great-grandfather used it to solve different problems in the village

How the secret recipe almost got lost but for their research and intervention

2.  They are also going to guarantee you their permanent route and location with their contact so you can easily find them. Some offer repayment.

3. The most efficient way they get your interest piqued or aroused is when they start mentioning symptoms and there is no way one or two of your symptoms won’t be mentioned.

* Symptoms are not ailment!

4. Lastly, the drugs are always cheap.

Questions You Should Ask Yourself Before Buying

1. How is it possible for one or two powders you don’t know their origin to solve over 30 ailments

2. Since you don’t know its constituents, how are you sure you will not react or be allergic to one of the ingredients For example, If you are an ulcer patient, lactose intolerant, or allergic to nuts.

3. Diseases and ailments most times have similar symptoms like rashes, body pain, flu, etc.

So because the marketer mentioned one of your two symptoms doesn’t mean the drug will tackle your Illness. The only way to know is through Medical Diagnosis and Medical tests.

THE FAKE MARKETER

I was on a bus when this marketer came and was marketing. He was fluent and people were already to buy when someone asked how many grams of diclofenac a child of less than 3 years can use. He said with confidence 100 grams. I died instantly (lol).

Diclofenac is a very strong anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving drug that doctors usually advise a fully-grown adult to eat before using.

This will almost kill the child as its overdose effects are dangerous.

Thankfully, the person who asked was a registered nurse. She raised alarm and strongly opposed him and he left in a hurry.

Another instance: I was on a 911 commercial bus when a marketer said that the causative organism for typhoid is dupakolis… (He mentioned one strange name like that to accomplish it and I wondered if there was nobody in this big bus that is a science student)

Being a Microbiologist, I knew it was Salmonella thyphi and even though I raised the alarm in my corner, people were still buying.

The question that kept running in my head was: How will your powdered drug cure my ailment when you don’t even know the name?

DIARRHEA INDUCING DRUGS

So I met a couple on another bus that seemed to be detected by these people. So I stylishly asked them why they seemed so angry at the sight of these drug marketers.

They told me they bought some recently because the marketer was so on point with their symptoms and also gave out her number.

They got home and used it and in the 30 minutes, their stomach started grumbling. That was the Genesis of their toilet rotation. The man said they excreted till they had to call their neighbors to help as they thought they would die. They called the numbers they were given and it never went through.

Even after there was nothing in their stomach to pass out again, the feeling didn’t stop. In his words: “We nearly died”

Lastly, I witnessed the death of a friend’s dad who had appendicitis and he died because they chose to go through these means instead of proper treatment in a hospital.

My summation is; while some people would try to convince you that some drugs do work for them, Endeavor to always go to a registered pharmacy or hospital instead of patronizing the public unregistered drug marketers be it traditional or Western medicine.

Comment below and let me know if you have had an encounter with them before or what is your thoughts on it.

See you all next time, Chef Wale cares.