Drug addiction took 10 years of my life and cost me my job, Nigerian man says

Abraham said he understood the severity of his drug addiction only after an oil company dismissed him because of his body odour. Colleagues would open the air conditioner and windows and spray air freshener when he entered the office, he said.

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Most of the time, when I came to the office, they would open the AC, open the windows, they would be spraying air freshener up and down. I couldn’t last on the job beyond a couple of months. They had to let me go and put me on sick leave.

He had secured what he described as a valuable job opportunity, but lasted only a few months before the company placed him on sick leave and let him go. The loss forced him to confront his dependence. By then, he said, the pain that originally led him to use drugs had disappeared, yet he continued taking them automatically whenever cravings returned.

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My siblings right now, even though I’ve recovered, because of that strain over the years of the addiction, we now feel like strangers. That connection is no longer there.

Abraham shared his story on NarcoTales S4 E8, broadcast on NDLEA TV’s YouTube channel. He said addiction affected nearly every part of his life, including his finances, health, career and family relationships. His mother tried to help him, but he said the strain contributed to his parents’ separation. His relationship with his siblings also suffered, and he now feels they have become strangers despite his recovery.

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I lost almost 10 years of my life due to this.

The loss he described most painfully was time. Abraham said he became addicted in his mid-20s and did not understand how to live without the euphoria of drugs until he reached his 30s. Years of injecting drugs left him with physical scars, difficulty walking and an inability to take part in activities he once enjoyed. Money, he said, could be earned again, but time could not.

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You can lose money and regain money. But time is something you can’t regain. You can’t regain time.