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Nelson Mandela University doctoral graduate, Dr Musa Aminu, has achieved the extraordinary by overcoming drug addiction to earn a PhD focused on the neuroscience of the addictive brain.
Aminu, born in northern Nigeria, overcame substance abuse in his youth and decided to help others by pursuing an undergraduate degree in human physiology.
He said his goal was to understand how the brain works, which led him to pursue a master’s in pharmacology and therapeutics to explore how drugs affected the brain.
“What began as ‘fun and games’ with cigarettes and alcohol quickly became a habit,” he said.
“I started using cannabis, and thereafter felt more comfortable trying other drugs.
“I found myself struggling to stay in school at the age of 18,” he said.
At university he went from being an ‘A’ student to struggling simply to pass.
“My drug use became my number one priority.
“I needed money to purchase drugs.
“That became the root cause of my problems with my family.
“I found ways to get money from my mother for my drug use, until she could no longer trust me.”
Aminu said he would even spend his tuition fees to purchase drugs.
“Eventually, my mental and physical health began to deteriorate.
“I dropped out of university and had a near-death experience due to drug use.
“That was when I knew I could no longer continue this path.
“I sought help, and my family checked me into a drug rehabilitation centre for four months.”
Thereafter, he decided to devote his life to helping others get out of “this dark hole”.
On completing his master’s degree, he joined a UN office focused on drug and crime efforts to address drug use, prevention, treatment and care.
Serendipitously, Prof Chris Ajonijebu, who headed a research group at NMU’s department of human physiology, had been working on the neuroscience of addiction.
He heard about Aminu’s passion and offered him a doctoral position.
Aminu’s PhD research examined health safety concerns regarding the impact of cannabis legalisation on the adolescent brain and potential maladaptive behavioural phenotypes associated with cannabis use.
His secondary supervision was with Prof William Daniels from the University of Witwatersrand and NMU’s Prof Hajeirah Davids.
Aminu’s study showed that Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the addictive compound in cannabis, causes addiction-like behaviours in experimental animals, despite claims about the safety of cannabis compounds.
THC exposure may also have neurocognitive effects.
Animals that received THC performed relatively poorly in memory tests.
He also observed that cannabidiol (CBD), another cannabis compound associated with medicinal claims made about cannabis, produces more THC-like effects when combined with THC, a finding that further questions the claimed safety of cannabis.
Aminu made a novel discovery that cannabis addiction is linked to an epigenetic change involving miRNALET7D in the hippocampus, a region involved in memory.
“These types of changes lead to silencing of genes involved in intelligence quotient that control learning and memory processes, as well as genes involved in depression, drug craving and relapse in substance use disorder,” he said.
Aminu’s work aims to inform more evidence-based policies around cannabis legalisation and encourage more scientific research into claims around the therapeutic benefits of cannabis, while weighing risks versus benefits.
Now clean for 15 years, he said he had learnt more about the power of resilience.
“To anyone out there battling addiction, please do not give up on yourself. Talk to someone, seek help.
“But understand that addiction is a brain disease, and you are not a failure. There is help there …”
His tenacity and resilience saw him become one of 10 young African thought leaders selected to participate in the Shango Fellowship, hosted by the African Alliance, which works with partners, including the Wits Reproductive Health Institute and the SA Medical Research Council.
The fellowship is focused on decolonising African research and the development of medicines.
Aminu’s main supervisor, Prof Ajonijebu, who is now at the University of Johannesburg, said: “[Aminu’s work] contributes meaningfully to our understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying cannabis use disorder and stress-related conditions, while also opening promising avenues for future therapeutic development.
“In a rapidly evolving global context where cannabis policy, mental health and addiction science increasingly intersect, his doctoral research is both timely and impactful.”
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