Be sincere – forget the pretty and all the packaging. Have you ever tried any substances and got addicted?
It could be pain killers during that time of the month and now you can’t stop, it could be the occasional coffee boost that makes you twitch when it’s wearing out of your system, it could be heroin you only wanted to try once at the party and now… well, you understand.
On June 25, 2020, a 21-year-old dancer and student, Sandra Meme, took to her Tik Tok account to chronicle her journey from addiction to abstinence. According to her, she vowed that if she survived and got over her addiction to substances, she would share her inspiring story with the world! Plus, she has got great skin to boot!
By the next day, thousands of people had seen her video and sent her messages of encouragement, asking her questions about her journey and if it was indeed possible to get over their addiction as well.
By 03:00 pm the next day June 26, 2020, she was speaking at the Drug Convos – a virtual anti-drug conversation hosted by MTN Foundation in partnership with Businessday, MTV Base Africa, and Nigerian Entertainment Today (Netng) to commemorate the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
Participants at the event were Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Akin Dare; Nollywood actors Dakore Egbuson-Akande and Ini Edo, comedian and On-Air-personality, Chinedu ‘Nedu’ Ani; singer, Praise ‘Praiz’ Ugbede; Country Manager, ViacomCBS Networks Africa, Bada Akintunde-Johnson; Senior Lecturer and consultant psychiatrist, Yewande Oshodi; Country Representative, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Oliver Stolpe; Director-General, Christ Against Drug Abuse Ministries (CADAM), Dr. Adedokun Adedeji.
Sandra Meme shared insights behind drug addiction among Nigerian youths, “we don’t really have positive messages about drugs, especially about substance abuse. Instead, it’s being promoted as opposed to being advocated against. It feels like ‘drugs’ is the new cool.” She pointed out that she got addicted because she had erroneously thought that substances would enhance her performance as a dancer and when she realised the devastating effects, she was far-gone.”
Inspiration was her sole reason for sharing the video, “the main reason I shared my story was because I had a very bad experience with drugs and substance use disorder and I made promises to God, my family and myself that if I was liberated from that period in my life, I would use my voice to inspire any and everybody that could hear me.”
Sandra’s story has more than 270,000 views on her Twitter page alone (it has since been reposted by some of the biggest names in Nigeria’s social media space) – thousands of Nigerians have been inspired to find ways to get over addiction. “Just by posting that video, I have had hundreds of people asking me how I did it. They are in similar situations and are trying to change and they are asking for advice on how I went about my journey,” Sandra mentioned enthusiastically.
The Foundation launched the Anti-Substance Abuse Programme (ASAP) in 2018, to help curb substance abuse among young Nigerians from age 10 to 25. The Drug Convos was an ASAP initiative to give young people a platform to listen to some of the country’s biggest stars, professionals, and practitioners as they discussed drug addiction and the way forward for Nigeria.