Drug Abuse: Is Marijuana Harmful? Marijuana, ordinarily, is a weed. The dried leaves, flowering tops and stems, which can be used as a drug because of the curative properties are wrapped into cigarettes form and often smoked by people.

Cannabis is the plant yielding the marijuana
leaves. It's name is derived from Latin
American Spanish. Historically, Marijuana
came into Nigeria after the first and second
world wars when Nigerians were conscipted to
fight on the sides of Britain. Some of the
soldiers on their return from Burma and
North African military campaigns brought the
weeds home. Marijuana Initially, Marijuana
had several local names apart from the
popular one – Indian Hemp.
It used to be called "Morocco,""Igboo,"
"Ganja", "Smoke", "Grass","Weewee", "Stone"
etc. Because of its attribution to "mental
disorder", the authorities criminalised the
smoking of Marijuana as anyone found in
possession of it, or caught smoking is liable to
be sentenced to six months in prison without
option of fine. That was the situation until the
military intervention on January 15, 1966,
when the army took over from elected civilian
government.
However, it was the military government of
Yakubu Gowon who changed the punishment
for smoking and possessing Indian Hemp
from six months to 10 years imprisonment,
thus making people to be aware that
Marijuana was dangerous and could be the
cause of violent crimes in the society.
This led to the police getting more returns
from those caught smoking the weed at
different joints and homes across the country.
However when the Gowon regime was
overthrown, the new military government of
Maj-Gen Murtala Muhammed saw no reason
for the long jail term for Indian hemp offences
and therefore repelled that law, reverting the
punishment to six months prison term.
This was received by the people with a sigh of
relief. The sentence for marijuana possession
had remained soft and flexible till the coming
of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency,
NDLEA, which introduced stiff penalties for
offenders and other serious drugs like
cocaine, heroin, etc.
Marijuana has been found not to be harmful
nor addictive and people need not be afraid of
its usage, although it can make the smoker
"high", and operating in another thought-level.
There are research studies indicating the
medicinal, herbal, healing and curative
qualities of marijuana. In some states in
America, there is what is called "Medical
Marijuana"which could be legally used with
doctor's prescription.
Doctors can prescribe marijuana for some
ailments like epilepsy which has no cure,
except by marijuana. Even children of two
years and above are given "edible
marijuana"for cure of epilepsy which has been
very effective to control the frequent seizures.
So the recreational and medicinal use of
marijuana are now gaining ground in USA.
Governor Christie of New Jersey is sending a
bill to the state legislature to legalise use of
marijuana for medical purposes.
Edible marijuana administered to a 2-year old
child suffering from epilepsy has worked
perfectly well with the child fully cured and
seizures reduced from 100 a day now to zero.
Source: Vanguard

An open Letter to olamide from a Fan

I am a fan of yours and I have
followed your growth from the days with Id
Cabasa and the Coded Tunes crew, to your
days under Toni Payne's management. Parting
ways with her was quite risky but I felt it was a
move worth making as you needed a fully
dedicated management to grow your career.
That move paid off and you're now better off
for it. Pitching your tent with 1805
Entertainment, your immense talent and the
void left by Dagrin's demise meant only one
thing – A top spot for you! I am glad you fit in
perfectly. A bolder move to start YBNL Nation
and you going ahead to drop your second
album on the YBNL Nation/1805
Entertainment imprint was another risky move
that still paid off. At that point, I knew the "god
of music" was behind you. Though it wasn't so
surprising to see the street embrace the
album cos of it quality street wise content, the
rate at which the "butties" accepted you too
was alarming. People preached the YBNL
gospel and gladly talked about how good the
album was. Even my cool friend Barr. Fola
Alade became an advocate of "Razz being the
new Cool", no thanks to you. But while we
where enjoying Jale, Street Love, Jesu O kola,
Stupid Love, First of All, Ilefo Illuminati
amongst other beautiful songs, dear Olamide,
you unconsciously killed the album! Yes, you
unfortunately killed it by releasing too many
materials not so long after the album dropped
and you shifted our attention off the album.
To make matters worse, some of these songs
were not half as good as the songs on the
album and they also were not well promoted,
Confession, Tonto Dike, Baddest Nigga That
ever liveth, e.t.c. Needless to say that some
were also really good, cos some of us still
have Turn Up and Durosoke topping our
playlists. Baddo, have you heard of the point
of equilibrium? That's the point when the law
of diminishing return sets in. It happens to
everything and everyone. In simple terms, it's
the point where you get to the peak, have
nothing to extra to offer and the drop starts.
To some, the drop might not be deep while to
some, they would never rise to that point
again. Unfortunately, this happens a lot in the
music industry. While we agree that you are
HOT at this moment and the inspiration is
much, brother, please do not wear yourself
out. Ma le ara e ni ere. Truth is when you
saturate the market with too many materials,
we get tired easily, we don't pay full attention
to them and the songs end up not getting as
much love as they should. Keep recording,
keep saving them in the cloud and don't push
too many songs within a short period. Let the
fans yearn for more, let us savour the
goodness of some of what you already have.
On a final note, I love the way your personality
is gradually evolving 'cos building a brand of
yourself should be beyond your music. I
foresee a near future where corporate brands
that want to connect with the streets would
come to you, simply because you are the link
between the streets and the corporate world.
A celebrated grass to grace story. The true
voice of the streets. Oremade, a Lagos-based
marketing executive and entertainment
enthusiast, can be reached via seunoremade@
yahoo.com or on twitter @seunoremade

Crude oil rushes out of tap in a village in Kogi state

A well in a compound which is located 30 meters
from the Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation pipeline in Gegu, Koton Karafi Local
Government area of Kogi State, has been
discovered to be filled with crude oil.
Reports reveal that some overhead tanks
belonging to one Alhaji Suleiman Mohammed
who owns a pure water factory in the area was
also filled with crude oil.
Alhaji Suleiman however revealed that he woke
up and discovered that all his overhead tanks
were filled with crude oil.
Eyewitness at the area revealed that residents had
lined up to fetch water when crude oil started
gushing out of the tap. Residents were said to
have started struggling to fetch the crude oil
before the police stormed the area.
Assistant Commissioner of Police, Friday Ibadin,
who is in-charge of the taskforce, said on August
22, 2013, he got an intelligence report that some
individuals were carting away gallons of crude oil
from a village in Kogi state.
He said, "Policemen led by Kogi Sector
Commander, Dawn Eremie, stormed the premises
and discovered a well filled with crude oil as well
as empty kegs littered in the compound. The
owner of the house disappeared while his wife
who was met compound claimed that they
discovered that their well was filled with crude oil.
She admitted that they made attempts to scoop
the oil in a bid to get clean water for domestic
use.

Its untrue that I have Another Kid --- Saheed Balogun

The Yoruba people have a proverb that says 'A kii
ka omo f'olomo'. This literally means that it is
culturally wrong to say in the public the number
of children a person has.
While it may not be too difficult to understand the
sentiment the elders are trying to play up through
the adage, modernity has since laid the wisdom in
it to rest.
Nowadays, 'modern people' do not even wait for
an outsider to count their children for them. They
do so themselves. Apart from the fact that you
have to officially declare the number of children
you have on certain occasions, many people,
following what obtains in the western tradition,
are eager to 'broadcast live' not only the number
of kids they have, they also take to the social
media to announce to the world as soon as they
get pregnant. And seconds after the baby is born,
its picture is already everywhere.
Popular Yoruba actor, Saidi Balogun, says he
neither grumbles with tradition nor in any way
tries to resist the influence of civilisation. But he
adds that he detests something: the idea of
people carrying rumours about his family status.
Indeed, he is currently angry with some of
Nigerian bloggers who, he notes, are fond of
publishing false stories about celebrities.
"Recently, the bloggers said I had another child
from one woman. This is not true, and none of
them bothered to call me to verify whether or not
it was true."
The actor/producer, who recently premiered a
new movie - You or I - was spotted at Shoprite, in
Ikeja Mall on Sunday, where he went to shop
alongside his children. On sighting the fair-
complexioned actor, it was natural for the
correspondent to look out for probably a woman
- other than Balogun's estranged wife, Fatiha -
who could be carrying a baby, based on the
rumour that filtered through the Internet recently.
"This is me, and this is my family," he said.
"Although one cannot stop any blogger from
doing his or her work, it is also good to respect
the dignity of other people, and to respect the
rules of journalism too. How can someone just go
and hide in one corner and say anything he likes
in his or her blog?"
He declined further comments on the domestic
end as, according to him, many people tend to
misinterpret utterances of celebrities too easily.
On his romance with Ibadan - he is said to have
recently been seen with Governor Abiola Ajimobi
of Oyo State - Balogun explained that he only
'returned home' because of what he has observed
in Ibadan.
"There we go again o!" he said jovially. "The fact is
that I am a native of Ibadan. I am from the
Kobomoje area of the city. I am part of the family
of Chief Lekan Balogun, who was murdered some
years back. What happened is that when I visited
Ibadan recently, I noticed that the city has
changed. Many of the major roads are now free
and the dirt that used to litter everywhere has
disappeared. Grasses and flowers have also
surfaced in different places, like you have in parts
of Lagos. So, as an indigene, I felt somehow
inspired and decided to express this to the
governor."
On the way some showbiz stars now patronise
government quarters, he noted that what
mattered was the intention, while adding that,
that one is an artiste does not mean he does not
have anything to contribute to governance.

BBA: Who wins USD300,000 prize money?

After 91 days of unstoppable fun and drama, the
stage is set again to crown a winner as the grand
finale of the Big Brother Africa-The Chase reality
TV show holds this Sunday, in South Africa.
Two Nigeria's representatives, Beverley and
Melvin are among the five Housemates who will
be contending for the USD300,000 prize money.
Beverley and Melvin made it to the final after
Ethiopia's Bimp and South Africa's Angelo were
evicted during last Sunday's live eviction show.
Their departure leaves Beverley, Melvin, Cleo,
Dillish and Elikem in contention for the USD300
000 prize. This year's edition has been punctuated
with lots of intrigues, drama and sex.
Nonetheless, it has been fun all the way.
*BBA finalists
Some viewers have opined that the battle is
between Melvin and Cleo, while many others
tipped Melvin or Beverly. However, as it stands, it
could be anyone's money.
South Africa's Angelo became the 22nd
housemate to be evicted, bringing an end to the
final couple in the House – Bengelo. It has been
an unpredictable season with some of the
promising characters and entertaining
personalities crashing out of the game before
they could say BBA.
Meanwhile, with the intrigues that pervade the
show this year, whoever wins tomorrow will evoke
no reaction. Africa seems to be rooting for Melvin
or Elikem . The end will definitely justify the
means!
Vanguard

FG not ready to end strike – ASUU

After 10 unsuccessful meetings with the
Federal Government, the Academic Staff Union of
Universities, ASUU, yesterday said government
was not ready to end the 8-week-old strike,
lamenting that government displayed dishonesty
and lack of integrity during negotiations.
At a briefing in Lagos, ASUU's President, Dr. Isa
Faggae, claimed that government had declared it
would not implement the agreed injection of
funds to revitalise the public universities, but was
only making a dubious statement of supporting
some universities with N100 billion.
He said: "Government had also declared that it
will not pay university academics their earned
allowances which accumulated from 2009 to 2013.
Rather, it is talking about providing N30 billion to
assist various Governing Councils of Federal
Universities to defray the arrears of N92 billion
owed to all categories of staff in the university
system."
Narrating the union's experience at the last
meeting with the Government held on Monday,
Faggae said: ASUU was shocked by the level of
deceit, dishonesty, and lack of integrity displayed
by the Government. Never in the history of ASUU-
Government relations have we, as a union, ever
experienced the kind of volte-face exhibited by
Government. At one stage in the interaction, the
Secretary to the Government Federation ridiculed
the agreement, the MoU and the Needs
Assessment Report, mocking the Minister of
Education to "go and give them N400 billion," at
which members of the government scornfully
laughed."
He argued that the Governor Gabriel Suswam-led
Implementation Committee was being used as
smokescreen to "deceive ASUU, Nigerian students
and their parents, as well as other unsuspecting
members of the public on the purportedly
released N100 billion for the implementation of
the Needs Assessment Report.
First, he said, government plans to divert the
regular yearly allocations to universities by
Tertiary Education Trust, TETFund, to make at
least 70% of the N100 billion. This is unacceptable
to ASUU. It is like robbing Peter to pay Paul, since
the idea of revitalization took full cognizance of
the intervention role TETFund ab-initio.
"Again, contrary to subsisting operational
procedures, about 75% of the money meant for
revitalizing universities would not be released to
them as the Suswam Committee plans to hand
over construction of the hostel projects to the
Federal Ministry of Education and/or the National
Universities Commission, for implementation.
This is illegal; neither the ministry nor NUC is
backed by laws of Nigerian Public Universities to
divert monies meant for the development of these
institutions into centrally executed projects."
Dr. Faggae questioned the committee's motives
for proposing to commit N1.6 million to a bed
space, instead of N200, 000 to N400, 000, saying,
"We see a continuation of outrageous contract
regimes in the plan to centrally coordinate the
construction of student hostels as done in the
case of the 12 newly established Federal
Universities with TETFund resources. The NUC has
transmuted itself into a "Tenders' board" which
awarded contracts for the construction of 560 bed
spaces hostel for each university at a whooping
sum of 1.2 bn. This contract sum translates into
N2.143 million per bed space.