The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has discovered a psychoactive substance (NPS) called Akuskura, and fast gaining ground in the north and southwest
Akuskura, also known as Kuskura or Kurkura, is derived from the Hausa word “Kuskura,” meaning gargling and rinsing.
In action, the concoction, a blend of herbs, tobacco, and Indian hemp, causes seizures—violent, irregular contractions of muscles, according to Mahmud Isa Yola, a special assistant to the agency’s chairman.
According to him, the N100 potion, distributed as herbs by Islamic and local herbalists, is of different varieties, both liquid and powdered, and used by people who mostly seek to “get high.”
Akuskura became a substance of interest after more than seven thousand bottles of the illicit substance were intercepted along the Abuja-Kaduna highway to its their destinations in Borno, Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto, Zamfara, Gombe, and Nasarawa.
NAFDAC has banned the substance since, though the users believe it cures malaria and typhoid, and enhance libido. In addition to these, the abusers claim it drives demons away.
This, Yola, said makes it certain the drug is of no medicinal value.