“God Arrested Me”

-Retired ‘Drug Dealer’ Opens Up

By Esau J. Farr

A onetime ‘drug addict’, Harrison Toh alias ‘H2’ or ‘Boyou’ has openly confessed that there is nothing worth looking for in the streets.

Toh, 46, told this paper in an interview over the weekend that as a graduate of all street life activities, he has come to the realization of having nothing to benefit anyone who engages in drug dealing and other unwholesome practices.

He explained that more than ten years ago, one of his friends initiated him into drug dealing which caused him to lose a job with the United Nations as then staff of the National Commission on Disarmament, Demobilization Rehabilitation and Reintegration (NCDDRR).

“You know, the thing they call money has different spirit and power. When I started working with the NCDDRR, I started moving with some big guys you know; it was how one of those friends encouraged me to join him satisfy his habit and I agreed which got my people and friends to be afraid of me today,” he narrated.

The former classroom teacher lamented that he feels sad and cries at times whenever he retrospects on his past life activities that kept him as what he described as ‘half-human’ level.

“See the life I lived before and now, there were students I taught years back, but are now advanced academically than I am. Today, my mother has not fully been convinced that I am a changed person, but I trust God that I will again be a person people will once again love in my family and community as a whole,” ‘H2’ lamented his ordeal.

Toh who said he was released from jail late last year by a lawyer told our reporter that he has truly repented of his sins saying, he wants all who knew him as a drug dealer and criminal to now see him as a different and a new man willing to be a part of a civilized society free of harassment and intimidation.

He intoned that if he can be a changed man today, any of his friends who are in such life can also be changed.

Toh however said it becomes difficult to take someone from drug addiction to a normal man saying “the only solution to such condition is prayers and keeping the person involved far away from those who are also involved in drug addiction.”

According to him, it was only God who arrested him and turn him around for purpose and that there is no turning back for him now that he has seen the Lord who he once served.

“Before getting into that bad habit, I was teaching Bible, Math, English and Social Studies and I did that for many schools including Islamic schools who hired me to only teach English,” he added.

From the conversation between him and our reporter, it was observed that the former drug user indeed served in the classroom as he knows his ‘Subject and Verb Agreement’ and that he corrects himself whenever he makes mistakes in following the rules of standard English. In fact, the street English (slangs) and the usual talking in bars that most of the times overshadow the way of speaking of drug addicts are not recognizable when Harrison speaks.

He old this paper that he has since returned to make use of one of his skills, ‘Cook-pot making’ just to earn daily bread so as to gain public trust that he is no longer a ‘Bad Guy’ as he has been perceived to be up to now.

Meanwhile, Harrison Toh is calling on all humanitarians and those who have hearts for people who go astray to go to his aid (Old Road Community) and help raise his living standards by opening a mini-welding shop where can be to make useful impact on society and at the same time serve as a motivation for other drug addicts to leave drug addiction.

“If I have a place to settle like a shop where I will think about bringing some of my old friends to see what I now do, I will serve as ambassador and motivation for those who feel that life is all over for them and tell them that there is still light at the end of the turner,” he challenged all.

Harrison currently seeks shelter in a shop near a garage adjacent the Total Gas Station at the intersection of the Smyth Road on the Old Road.