Must Read: The Cartel (18+)

Episode 7 years ago

Must Read: The Cartel (18+)

Between visiting the Marina or Tinapa resort, clubbing, eating out late in the night at Bogobiri or the Stadium, dancing at the carnival, Cultural center, travelling up to Obudu Cattle ranch or Uyo Tropicana etc. the average university student in Calabar don’t spend enough time studying. For them, there is just so much fun and a general fear of missing out (FOMO) from the numerous thrills the serene city and nations paradise has to offer such that, at different points of the schooling, their academic work/life suffers. The advent of the mobile phone and easy internet access makes it possible for them to research an assignment in a night club a day to submission, bookmark pages and articles, then copy and submit the following day.




With such lifestyle, university students (across the nation) usually have little or no time for real studying and usually become the perfect definition of procrastinators. After all, they can research and submit that assignment before the lecturer leaves the class. But how then do such a student cope when the examinations timetable is pasted on the department’s notice board and s/he realizes s/he isn’t prepared or haven’t been studying/reading? Or the next paper begins by 9am and you know next to nothing about the course? Well, the Cartel and Jade have a solution for you, and that is “Prescription or Study drugs”.



For children and patients suffering from disabilities like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or attention deficit disorder (ADD), prescribed stimulants containing substances like methylphenidate or Amphetamine are given to produce a calming effect in the individual by increasing the hormone, dopamine in the brain. This is because it is generally believed that such children or patients lack adequate dopamine. Manufactured in different forms like capsules, tablets or syrups, these drugs are not sold over the counter to just anybody because of how potent and deadly they can be when abused.




Her first targets were rich or lazy medical and law students who used them in increasing their motivation to study, concentration or mental focus for the purpose of studying or cramming for their exams. Before long, some of these first set of students were profiled by Jade and then became “brokers” who contacted Jade’s boys on behalf of other students and for themselves once the addiction kicked in.



And from going around campus and her interaction with other students, Jade was able to identify middle class and wealthier kids who were potential clients and got her boys to contact them.




To ensure the success of the campus drug trade, the students selected as brokers were kids from very rich homes who weren’t bothered about being arrested, thanks to dad’s riches, influence or political status. These were strictly students who drove the best cars in campus. Not like these sets of students needed the money from the trade, but the thrill that came with feeling of being sorted and begged by addicted or desperate students for “shots” or doses who were always willing to return favours (and in kind for pretty girls) got them hooked.




And then there were the “Party or club drugs” which were supplied to the city’s clubbing population. These substances are commonly used at nightclubs and dance parties to enhance social intimacy and sensory stimulation. Distributed conveniently as small pills, powders, or syrups, these drugs are taken orally or in combination with each other, alcohol, or with other drugs. At the initial stages, these drugs were made available to clubbing students who wanted to stay up all night dancing, but the influx of tourists into the city for the Calabar carnival provided a larger market base.
Some of the drugs such as Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) known on the streets as Ecstasy or XTC is usually taken orally in a tablet or capsule form and allows dancers to dance for long periods of time ranging from 3-6 hours without getting tired. There was also Gamma-hydoxybutyrate (GHB) with streets names such as G or Liquid Ecstasy is usually ingested in a liquid form or injected intravenously with a syringe and needle. As a central nervous system depressant, it slows breathing and heart rates to dangerous levels but provides a sedative and euphoric effects that begin up to 10-20 minutes from ingestion.




Others included Methamphetamine known on the streets as Ice, Meth, Crystal or Glass and came in forms such as a pills, capsules or powdered form which could be snorted, injected, or smoked. Ketamine, Rohypnol, Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD). These Party and Study drugs were the more common and affordable ones, as coke which brought in major profits was only available to the higher class in the city.




To the student brokers who also served as dealers in town, they were working independently or for some guys in town, while in truth there were all working for a 200 level nursing student controlling the drug trade from her room in her dad’s house. But this informal trade network, brought in hundreds of thousands of Naira monthly. For the first 6 months, the Cartel remained underground and there weren’t any blood shed.