Part 4 (concluding)
to me. If
not that time (the period of his withdrawal), people tell you that your f**king
up, you are misbehaving, but you don’t see it correct. Now I know lost
opportunities- golden opportunities.
I started
growing up with a bright star but within that period of 15-19 years, when I was
into drug I lost everything. As I speak to you now I am 47 years old and I am
not married. The period I was supposed to concentrate and do beautiful things
with my life, I was in the forest, I was in the bunk, I was in the club- I
clubbed my life all through.
But God has helped me. It wasn’t an easy task. It’s not easy getting yourself out of drug; except with determination and seeking help.
Clickhealth: Is there any possibility of you relapsing into it again?
Charles Dakole:
It’s not possible again because of the time I have stayed away from it.
Clickhealth: How many years precisely?
Charles Dakole:
8 years, from 2014 and 2022.
See, one of
the things that helped me keep my focus was this character of the boys telling
me, “boy, you go still come smoke”, “I left it for two years”, “I left it for 3
months…” but I still returned” What kept me going was to tell them that you
stopped it for 1 year; me, I would never count the number of years I would be
returning but the number of years I have stopped it. I would tell my friends,
“see, this year I have told you it’s 1 year and next year I would tell you it’s
two years” I am still counting it up till now. I don’t think I would be going
back.
In fact, I
love my life so much that I know the devastating effect of smoking and getting
yourself involved in drugs. I will never and can never return to that kind of
character.
Now I see
people taking beer and I see them losing a lot, I see it like a childish act,
like an archaic way of living. That’s the depth of my understanding about drug
in the form of alcohol, in form of tablets, in form of smoke. That’s the
perception I see it (now), so my turning away from it is forever.
Clickhealth: One of my questions would have been how you do feel now
having left…?
Charles Dakole:
I feel great. I feel wonderful. I am beginning to feel inside that those
things I lost are beginning to come back gradually. Though it hurts when you
think of the things you are supposed to have and you are not having them. So
long as you stay away from it, gradually you will recover all.
Clickhealth: So what do you want to tell the youths out there?
Charles Dakole:
Wow, I wish I could see these youths face to face to simply tell them my
story; to let them see how I am now. I am a different thing from what I used to
be. Now you see me, I look very fine, very handsome, the whole of my nature has
come out, unlike 8 years ago that I look like a bush man, very dirty, unstable,
that’s how dangerous drug could be to you. You don’t have a stable mind; I wish
you could see me physically and have the tool for complete abstinence from
drugs.
I would want
to advise you, the youths, run away from it. Even if you think you are doing
well in the present state as a drug addict, you would have done better. If you
stay away, you do better than how you are doing right now. So I would advise you, stay away from it, it’s
not healthy, it’s dangerous, it kills you, it drains you, it messes you up, it
makes you a caricature- a laughing stock. And you would never achieve the
things of this world. You would be limited to a particular level. You would not be taken seriously;
because most times, you air the things that are not supposed to be aired out,
and you think maybe you are saying the truth. No person under the influence of
drug has a normal sound mind. Stay away from it.
Clickhealth: At this point, what is your next step; I mean are you
employed?
Charles Dakole:
Right now I am not employed. This interview is coming to you from Lagos.
I have been in Abuja for quite a number of years. I came to Lagos a month and a
week today. I have not been gainfully employed but I hope very soon I would lay
my hands on something. I am also open to any kind of work. I don’t have a limit
to work.
I read
microbiology from the University of Agriculture, Markurdi, Benue State
(Nigeria), I have my certificates. Though I have applied in 2 places but I have
not been employed. You can give me a call if you have anything for me.
Clickhealth:
If you have a chance, or rather, have you been thinking in the direction of,
maybe, NGO or a platform which you can use to reach out and tell the youths,
the whole world the effects of these drugs, and your story while on it?
Charles Dakole: Yes, I met a man at Abuja that
actually called me in and wanted me to go about telling people some kind of
seminar. I agreed though.
I think the
information is going to be given out properly or more if done physically
outside. I have one or two persons I can call that also suffered the same
effects of drug and they are out of it. I think these ones can still come out
and speak about the experiences they have had. If I have a platform I would do
it better.
The other
one (the man at Abuja) I met the terms or conditions of my involvement with the
NGO but it wasn’t properly reached. I saw him as coming to tap from me and he
never wanted to be giving anything. He got me discouraged.
I pray I
have the resources or may be the connect so that I can come on stage and be
prepared fully to divulge some of these information which are key and very
important for people to hear about drug abuse.
Clickhealth: Is there anything you think government should do to contain
the habit?
Charles Dakole:
I thought about it long ago, because I was also a victim (of the
absence) of that suggestion. The
government should try to inculcate or put drug (enlightenment) into the
syllabus of the whole secondary school. From JSS 1, you should begin to know
the effects of drugs and how they behave in humans.
I feel
government should go through education line, Ministry of Education, to get, at
least, a particular time when they teach people about hard drugs, like a
subject, a course code, in secondary school. The period people get into this
dangerous habit is mostly not within the cradle, but within adolescent age, and
that adolescent age is between ages 13-17 years. At that time it is the
secondary school peer pressure that pushes people to it; so I think the
government should have a time, a course code, in secondary school where they
teach people about drugs.
Clickhealth: Because of your intention to reach more people (with this
insight into drug), people may either want to partner with you in driving this
course; or even offer you something to do, would you mind if we share your
phone number along with this interview?
Charles Dakole: Yes, I think that is basic. My number would go a long way.
I want you to do it; I need to talk to people. I need people to call me so we
can talk about it.
Clickhealth: That desire obvious because the first time we met was in a
bus from Apapa to Oshodi (Lagos). For somebody like you to come out plain and
be sharing your story, against what most people who went through that route
would have done, shows that.
Charles Dakole: The reason why I came out openly is
because I feel the pain of the younger generation. Nobody is there to tell them
the truth. And even most times the people who to tell them are not victims
themselves; so the proper understanding and experience of what drug is, is
farfetched from them. I feel I should be reaching out to them because I feel
for them so much. I wish I could reach out to them- thousands, millions, to
tell them the devastating effect of drugs.
I have
pictures I took while I was on drug and my present state to show them the
difference between when you are an addict and when you are a free man.
Clickhealth: We are coming to the end of this interview, is there
anything you would like to discuss about this issue that we may have left out?
Charles Dakole: I think this is just the best for
now. You know for discussion to flow you need questions; I have lots of
experience, wonderful memories and knowledge about drug addiction.
***The Interviewee can be
contacted directly with his phone number +234 8137824948.