Please, stay away from drugs.

I beg you.

For over a week now, I have been trying to gather my thoughts to tell you about an encounter I had with a drug addict. I wasn’t sure how to approach this story or where exactly it should lead, but one thing I know for certain is this: I came here to tell you to stay away from hard drugs, drug abuse, and anything that alters your mind to the point where you lose control of yourself.

The entire experience lasted no more than 10–20 minutes, yet in those few minutes I found myself thinking about how quickly a situation could turn dangerous and how helpless one could feel in a matter of seconds. It left me shaken, and to be honest, a little traumatized.

Before now, drug abuse was something I mostly heard about or saw from a distance. But experiencing it up close changed something in me. It made me realize how unsafe environments can become when people are under the influence of hard substances.

Let me give you a bit of context.

I had stepped out briefly with my parents’ neighbour. On our way back, we needed to take a tricycle, what we call keke or napep here in Nigeria. Usually, I avoid sitting at the back, but since there were two of us, I sat there and ended up in the middle. Just before the ride started, a man joined us and sat right beside me.

While the driver stopped to buy fuel, the man called someone from across and he got something in a small nylon bag. I noticed him sniffing the substance shortly after. Within minutes, his behaviour changed drastically.

He became restless and unpredictable.

One moment his hand would swing and hit me, the next moment he would lean dangerously out of the tricycle. His movements became so unpredictable that it began to disrupt the entire ride. At some point, he started distracting the driver as well. My fear quickly shifted from discomfort to genuine concern; concern that he might jump out of the vehicle, hurt himself, or even cause an accident that could injure everyone inside.

Halfway through the journey, I asked the driver to stop because I no longer felt safe.

Sometimes you don’t fully grasp how dangerous something can be until you experience it firsthand. That short ride was one of those moments for me. It reminded me how substance abuse doesn’t only harm the person involved, it can put everyone around them at risk.

So if you’re reading this, please hear me clearly: stay away from drugs and harmful substances. Curiosity is never worth the risk. What may begin as experimentation can easily spiral into addiction, loss of control, and damage that extends far beyond the individual.

I won’t lie, the experience shook me. Since then, I have found myself feeling increasingly uncomfortable around environments where people are under the influence of drugs, smoke, or consume excessive alcohol. It’s difficult to feel safe in spaces where people are no longer fully in control of themselves.

Photo by GRAS GRÜN on Unsplash

Drug abuse is often framed as a personal choice, but the truth is that its consequences rarely remain personal. It spills into public spaces, into families, into communities, and sometimes into the lives of complete strangers.

If you are already struggling with substance abuse, I sincerely hope you reconsider the path you’re on. Please seek help. There is always room for restoration, healing, and a new beginning. The earlier you stop, the better.

If you have never picked up a smoke, never ever try it. Don’t!

No high is worth losing yourself, or putting others in danger.