Ghana in Focus Special: From India to West Africa: How Deadly Opioids Target African Youth

The opioid crisis sweeping across West Africa represents a grave public health emergency that demands immediate attention. Ghana, Nigeria, and Côte d'Ivoire are witnessing an alarming rise in opioid abuse among their youth populations, creating devastating consequences for individuals, families, and entire communities. This crisis is not merely a health concern but also poses significant social and economic threats to these nations.

At the heart of this crisis lies a disturbing reality: manufacturers from India are specifically targeting West African markets with highly addictive opioid products that have been banned in European countries due to their dangerous properties. According to a recent BBC investigation, these pharmaceutical products are being imported without proper regulation or testing, bypassing health authorities through corrupt practices at ports and regulatory agencies. This investigation revealed how one Indian businessman, identified as Sharma, openly acknowledged the addictive nature of these drugs while continuing to market them aggressively in West Africa, viewing African lives as expendable in pursuit of profit.

The demographic vulnerability of Africa makes this crisis particularly concerning. With over 75% of the continent's population under the age of 35, these dangerous opioids are targeting the very foundation of Africa's future – its youth.  This addiction pathway often forces users into criminal activities or prostitution to sustain their habits, creating a devastating cycle that destroys lives and communities. The social and economic implications of this crisis cannot be overstated, as a generation of young people becomes increasingly dependent on these substances rather than contributing to national development.

The regulatory failures highlight systemic weaknesses in West African governance structures. While European and Asian markets maintain strict regulations that prevent the sale of these dangerous substances, West African regulatory bodies like Ghana's Food and Drug Administration appear to be failing in their mandate to protect citizens.  

There is historical precedent that MUST NOT be ignored. This current opioid crisis follows a troubling pattern where Africa has been used as a dumping ground for substandard or dangerous medical products. A BBC Radio 5 investigation from two decades ago found that 75% of anti-malarial drugs entering West African markets were counterfeit, demonstrating that today's opioid crisis is part of a longer history of pharmaceutical exploitation.  WICKED INDIAN'S!!

Source:

Exposing an Indian pharma firm fuelling West Africa's opioid crisis - BBC News

Chapters

• 0:00 Podcast Introduction and Subscribe Request
• 2:08 Opioid Crisis in West Africa
• 6:10 Indian Manufacturers Targeting African Markets
• 10:02 Regulatory Failures and Corruption Issues
• 13:56 Compare to COVID and Eugenics Concern
• 16:30 Closing Thoughts and Next Week Preview

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Welcome to this week's edition of Ghana in Focus with myself Kwame, ghanaian writer, broadcaster, journalist, podcaster and entrepreneur. And in this week's episode of Ghana in Focus, opioids a health threat to Ghana and West Africa. Give you the details of that. So that's the theme for this week's show Opioid, the health scare threatening Ghana and West Africa. So before we get into the show, if you like what you hear, be sure to your friends, family, social media networks. Subscribe to Ghana African folks on YouTube. Subscribe to Ghana African Fix on Spotify. We want to get as many followers on both channels as possible by the end of the year, so we're looking for a target of a thousand followers on Spotify. So if I've got 600, so thank you to all those who are following me on Spotify. And we're looking to get at least 100 on Facebook sorry, on YouTube, so far we've got about 20. So if you haven't subscribed to Ghana African Facts on YouTube, please do. It's free, doesn't cost anything to subscribe. Just look out for Ghana African Facts on YouTube and hit the notification bell, meaning that every time we upload a new podcast, youtube will notify you of this.

Speaker 1: 1:24

Alright, so let's get into a podcast looking at opioids a threat to Ghana and West Africa, and so, if you call, I talked about health, generally speaking, about a couple of months ago, saying how you know, african people, black people, are dying at a younger age because we're not looking after ourselves and, uh, you know, as a result of this, we're getting diseases like hypertension, sickle cell, uh, high blood pressure, low sugar, diabetes, type one, type two, you know we're getting, you know, cardiovascular issues, etc. You know, and a lot of that is to do with a, what we're eating, what we're not eating, but also lifestyle habits as well, and also in the environment that we're in, particularly if you're the west. So talked about that. But what I'm looking at today is that this dangerous and this is obviously health as well, because it's clear a lot of our young people who are taking these opioids. There's a massive problem with opioids, not just in ghana, but also in nigeria, um and also La Côte d'Ivoire, and if this is not checked, then a lot of youth will be dead and that's going to hamper our development as well. So this is why I'm doing this important health podcast about opioids.

Speaker 1: 2:57

But the sad thing about this opioid thing is that there's two things. You know. Bbc did an investigation into this and I'll leave you the article in the full list so you can read it for yourself. But the stupid thing about this is that Indians are behind this opioid.

Speaker 1: 3:14

Opioid is a very, very addictive drug which has many chemicals that a lot of young people don't know the after effects are, but it can lead to death at the worst case scenario, and you know best case scenario is if it's such a thing. It can make you high for quite a period of time, but you get addicted to it and you know you may end up committing crimes. Uh, you know, to feed the habit of taking opioids. So this is very, very serious indeed and you know this is why I'm doing this podcast, because many young people in Ghana, west Africa, don't know that this drug, made by Indians, is being delivered to you, to us, yeah, unregulated and no licenses, but it's been promoted as a guise of a bona fide drug which unfortunately has massive side effects, whereas the case scenario is death right, and it's been many targets of African youth, ghanaian youth. So we have to ask ourselves why would somebody in India yeah, why would somebody in India make a drug specifically aimed at African market, in this case, west Africa? Yeah, if there was not an ulterior motive or an ulterior agenda to making this drug, because there's a video clip that the guy that is in the article that I will leave for you, for you to see for yourself. The guy is aware this is an Indian guy called Sharma. He's aware that this drug is very addictive and dangerous, but as far as he's concerned, it's business, because he's making money out of exploiting naive African people.

Speaker 1: 5:14

And also, what's also disturbing about this is that our regulatory bodies in Ghana is the FDA, food and Drug Administration right because of getting bribed from this Indian man and his cohorts? In Ghana, is the FDA, food and Drug Administration right Because of getting bribed from this Indian man and his cohorts? They are overlooking or not understanding the nature, the dangerous nature or the toxic nature of these so-called opioids that they are letting into the country. Yeah, and I've talked about many times how corrupt our ports are, particularly under the last Ghanaian government, under Akufo-Addo Very, very corrupt people at the ports. Obviously, now, with a new government in place, we hope that things will change and that the people working at the ports are robust in their dealings with any person importing goods into Ghana. And so you know, this article that I will leave also explains to you also how addictive.

Speaker 1: 6:21

Or, before I get to it, like I said, why is this Indian guy selling opioids to West Africa? He's going to sell to Asia or Europe? Yeah, and apparently some of the chemicals that are found in these opioids have been banned in Europe, which is obviously why you can't say in Europe. So if it's been banned in Europe, why haven't African countries yeah, for example, ghana, why haven't they banned this drug from coming to Ghana? If it's banned in the EU, the European Union, because they know of the toxicity and the banlage, banned this drug from coming to Ghana. If it's banned in the EU, the European Union, because they know of the toxicity and the banlage of this drug, or the chemicals or other that are going to make these opioids, why haven't they done the same in Ghana and Nigeria and La Côte d'Ivoire, where this opioid crisis is in place?

Speaker 1: 7:15

Yeah, so it tells you that we're not on the case and we're falling asleep because this opioids coming into Ghana, coming into Nigeria, coming to La Côte d'Ivoire is killing, literally killing our youth and making them docile and high and apparently, again, you read the article for yourself you know a lot of young people now are mixing this opioid with these energy drinks to get even more high. Yeah, so what's that producing? That's just producing a generation of young people who are permanently high. Yeah, and because of the nature of this right, like I said, they'll stoop into prostitution, stoop into, you know, criminal activities, just to get money to feed their habit. So this also poses right, a social, economic as well as health time bomb in those three countries.

Speaker 1: 8:13

Yeah, but my main thing is that this indian man, his agenda, basically, is to kill africans, because obviously this drug is killing african people. Why would you want to, you know, kill african people to make money? Think about it now and that and that's that's, that's, that's a business, like I said him, his business. So that tells you, like I said, that people only kill Africans. Whether you like it or not, whether you believe it or not, read the article and look at the video.

Speaker 1: 8:44

Yeah, because he's selling drugs to Africans that have, in essence, been banned in Europe. And he couldn't sell that in Asia as well, because the markets in Asia ie, china, japan, singapore, malaysia, etc. Are very, very well regulated and you can't bribe your way there. However, because of our lapse when he's seen an opportunity in Africa, in this case West Africa, to market his dangerous, deviant drugs, under the guise of, you know, pharmaceuticals, to West Africa. Yeah, so, like I said, there's a plan to kill us and this drug made by this Indian guy is a plan to kill us. Because if it wasn't a plan to kill us, then why is he not selling it in Asia? Why is he selling it in North America or South America or Australia? Because he can't't, because the regulations are very strong and you can't bribe your way through in those territories. But in Ghana, where our boards are lapsed, are porous, where there's corrupt officials working at the FDA and the ports, you can do that very, very easily.

Speaker 1: 9:53

And so, like I said, some wicked people, in this case this Indian guy called Sharma, is making opioids in his factory in India and they're marketing them in such a way to say to us in Ghana, west Africa, ghana, nigeria, um La Côte d'Ivoire, that has a dangerous effect on our youth. Again, we saw this with COVID. That code was made to kill people and you know, I did a video a long time ago about 21, 22, that got taken down by Spotify because they said the vaccine or the vice was planned and also the vaccine itself was has proven to be a dangerous dangerous thing because people have died taking the vaccine. I'm sure you know many people you know you listen to this. I'm sure you know people friends, family associates that have died or have had serious side effects taking this COVID vaccine. Yeah, but when the vaccine came out, people believed these so-called scientists and took COVID vaccine. Yeah, but when the vaccine came out, people believed these so-called scientists and took the vaccine that now, four years later, has now killed our people.

Speaker 1: 11:21

So, the same way that COVID was used as a weapon to reduce population, this is the same way that this opioid now made in India, yeah, is being sent particularly to West Africa to kill our youth, because Africa has the only continent in the world that has a youth population greater than the adult population. So in Africa, over 75% of the population is only 35. Yeah, and so if you are making opioids targets at the youth that can make them high or, worst case scenario, kill them, right, you are literally destroying, right, 75% of African youth or of our population. So there's a eugenics agenda. This Indian guy Sharma, this is practicing eugenics because this opioid tablet or pill that is sent in Ghana, in Nigeria, in Nicaragua, targeting specifically African youth is eugenics. Yeah, because the youth are hookedugenics. Yeah, because the youth are hooked upon, it, right, makes them high and they want some more and eventually it kills them or puts them in a serious, you know, hypogenic state.

Speaker 1: 12:46

So I'm saying to the voters in Ghana, voters in Nigeria, the voters in Cote d'Ivoire do not let this wicked Indian businessman right deceive you, trick you with corruption and bribes because you, at the port, want to make some quick cash for yourself, not knowing that there's a wider eugenics agenda to kill African people, particularly our youth. Yeah, and so our bodies, our borders and also our health bodies, like in Ghana, the FDA, food and drug authorities have to be, have to be on the ball, have to be on the case to ensure that, a these drugs don't get come, that these drugs don't come to the country and, b if they do come to the country, test them, test them for their vitality and their validity and to test them the evidence of these drugs, because apparently no test has been done. This is why they're ending up on the streets of drugs, because apparently no testing has been done. This is why they're ending up on the streets of, you know, accra, comaxi, lagos, abidjan, etc. Because the food and drug agencies in these countries are not doing the drugs properly, and so I'm not going to go on about this. But you can read the article for yourself, and there's a couple of videos there that you can see about the wickedness of this Indian man who only cares about money. He doesn't care about African people, he doesn't care about African lives. To him black lives don't matter. All he's concerned about is making money at our expense. So I'm saying to our people there's an agenda to kill African people. So we've got to be circumspect, we've got to be on the ball, we've got to be very, very discerning when these kind of drugs come into the country, because there's a long history of illicit drugs that come into the country. For example, in a BBC Radio 5 live in the UK, they did a documentary about 20 years ago talking about anti-malarial drugs why it's called healthy physio drugs and they found that 75 percent of the anti-malaria drugs that were coming into West Africa Ghana as well were fake. Yeah, why would you, as an upright conscious person, why would you import or why would you sell fake malaria tablets, anti-malaria tablets? Why To people, if there's not a wicked agenda and a false agenda behind that. Yeah, so we've got to be careful as Africans. We've got to be careful out there and not believe anything that we see from India or that comes from India or the West, because historically and this case has proven it there is a very ulterior and a thorough motive when these people want to come and sell their drugs to us as african people.

Speaker 1: 15:57

All right, so hope you've enjoyed this edition of ghanian focus. Please subscribe to um the show. We're on youtube. We're also on spotify. Please subscribe it's free to subscribe. And in next week this edition of African Focus we're looking at Sudan. I was part of a demonstration in the UK about the situation in Sudan the other day, so I'm going to upload that so that you can see for yourself, and we'll talk about the wider issue of the Sudan war and why you're not seeing much of that in your media. We all know about Palestine, but a lot of us do not know about the ongoing war and genocide in the Sudan. So look out for that in next week's edition of Africa In Focus. And so for myself, kwame, and for the crew here on Ghana In Focus, thank you very much for listening and we'll see you next week for some more great content coming out of Ghana and from Africa.