This drug addict tells his story through the valley of crime and drug

He sustained on hard drugs. And slowly but steadily, Mr. Christian Greene’s life transited from good to bad to worse.

At the end of this surreal journey, he had become a committed armed robber. This is the story of the 40-something years old man who walked through the terrifying valley of drug addiction and the associated criminal indul­gences, but has lived and cleaned up to tell the tale.

For almost 20 years, he was hooked on cocaine and heroin, including Rephenol and Codeine. His long journey into drug started when he left school at the junior secondary level to join his father in running his flourishing family business.

“My father urged me to stop school and go into trading, so that I could learn the ropes on time and rise to manage his business. But I was not prepared to handle such responsibility. I was just in my JSS three and I didn’t know how to go about controlling the huge amount of money that I was exposed to.

Even as a teenager, Christian had become unhappy, insecure and self-conscious. He was fat, and was not happy with his size. He longed to be accepted by my peers but his eagerness and gullibility singled him out for the chronic and painful need for approval of his mates.

“As a young man, I was fat and empty. I felt that something was missing in me, and yearned to belong to the society. I wanted to be kinky,” he recounts to Saturday Sun.

Christian tells of how his youthful exuberance and inane desire to belong made him go into drugs, which finally made him squander his family’s wealth of millions of naira.

“I remember watching Al’ Pacino in the movie titled Scarface, where he was cast as Tony Montana. I watched the movie and liked it. Again, friends urged me that I needed to do what I saw them do in the movie to belong. Another reason was that I yearned to slim down. I was too fat and when I buy clothes and wear them, they wouldn’t look good on me. I was too fat and when I buy clothes and wear them it wouldn’t look good on me. I wanted to look kinky and be fitting into the clothes that I bought. That was how I got into hard drugs. I started gradually until I became addicted to it. Taking cocaine made me feel clever, charming and powerful, and within a few years I was taking it heavily. After squandering all that my father gave me, I went into borrowing money to sustain my addiction. I became another person entirely and betrayed everybody around me to a point that nobody trusted me again.”

Having broken the hearts of his immediate family, and shattered the hopes of all that believed in his future, Christian cared less. He continued to binge on hard drugs. Along the way, he met a lady, who was also a crack head as he. According to Christian, the lady, who later became his wife, was hooked on marijuana.

“My wife also smoked marijuana, but she was more composed even in her addiction to weed. When she saw me, she thought I had a future. You know woman would not go for any man if she feels he has nothing to offer her. I was living on borrowed time, thinking I was something whereas I was nothing. We were compatible, and she believed that we could build a home together. But all I could do for her was to introduce her into taking cocaine with me.”

According to the Aguata-born fellow, his heavy consumption of and addiction to drugs made him a ‘star’ in drug enclaves around the Mushin area of Lagos. It made him a ‘big boy’ and he was endeared to established criminals and hoodlums. And his situation continued to get worse just as his influence spread.

“I was making friends with criminals because of my strong urge to smoke. I went into crime and joined my friends that were into robbery and assassination. That was the worst thing I did to satisfy my craving for drugs. I remember, when I started armed robbery, I would come to an individual and threaten to shoot him if he didn’t give me money. They would panic and then give me money. I knew it is only fear that could open the wallet of a rich man and drugs made me to go and threaten people with death.

“But I knew this was never the life I wanted. So, while in the gang, I was a one-leg-in-one-leg-out member. I still went to church to pray to God for redemption. At some point in the church, the preacher announced that someone had an appointment with death. I knew he was referring to me because of the way I made my money. I knew my life was hanging in the balance because I could just die during our operation. I knew death was lurking at the corner; I knew death was waiting right at my doorstep,” he tells.

That was the point that help came his way. He chanced on an NGO that pulled him back from the precipice. “I was tired of the way I was living my life and I believe God searched my heart and saved me through Lydia Grace Foundation founded by Pastor Itua Ighodalo. They were the people that found me out and brought me to CADAM (Christ Against Drug Addiction Ministry) in Araga at Epe, Lagos. That was where I started drug rehabilitation together with my wife who I also introduced into using cocaine.”

After one year of intensive training and rehabilitation, Christian brims with hope and strong resolve never to get involved in drugs or try to locate surviving members of his gang. “A lot of my bad friends are dead. Many of them living didn’t know how God took me away from drugs and gang. They all belong to my past now and I know that I won’t try to go back to trace them.

Now, I looked unto God because I know that it is only Him that would uphold me. I thank God for CADAM. It is not as if CADAM stopped me from using drugs, rather it is they that showed me the truth. And it is that truth that set me free. I use to go to hospital to try to get medical help, but even when my body got healed, my mind would remain hooked on drugs and I would keep going back for it. So, it was in this programme that my mind got healed also.”

As he gets set to leave the rehab after being certified free of drug addiction, Christian says he understands the challenges before him going back into the world. But he remains optimistic that he would excel. He further advised the youths to stay away from bad friends.

“I have decided to remove regret and fear from my dictionary. I know that I am going out to face a tough world and I don’t expect a rosy welcome out there. But I would key myself into the word of God that says that I should not fear and that He is always with me.

“And I would advise our youths to be conscious of whoever they have as their friends. They should be strong enough to say ‘NO’ because that was the mistake I made during my time. I didn’t have a mind of my own and many people exploited me because of that. Sometimes, friends would call me out to go and smoke; deep inside me I wouldn’t want to go, but because I wanted to belong, I had to go with them and take drugs. It was difficult for me to say no to my friends. So, the youths must be aware of their environment and steer clear of any friend that uses drugs or has a shady character.”

By Henry Okonkwo