Gernot Klantschnig, Ini Dele-Adedeji, “Opioid of the People : The Moral Economy of Tramadol in Lagos” in Politique africaine Volume 163, Issue 3, July 2021, pages 85 to 105

This article provides an in-depth examination of the illicit tramadol market in Lagos. It draws on interviews with tramadol regulators and traders to explore the moral narratives that state and market actors adopt to legitimize their work. Through a moral economy lens, we show how these narratives are linked to wider power struggles within the pharmaceutical market and between regulatory agencies. The article argues that the ambiguous moral nature of tramadol is critical for understanding a drug that is officially despised and yet so widely used and traded.

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