{"id":461621,"date":"2018-02-05T17:15:35","date_gmt":"2018-02-05T17:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2018\/02\/05\/i-tried-to-kill-myself-twice-but-i-failed-former-bbc-journalist-turned-drug-addict\/"},"modified":"2018-02-05T17:15:35","modified_gmt":"2018-02-05T17:15:35","slug":"i-tried-to-kill-myself-twice-but-i-failed-former-bbc-journalist-turned-drug-addict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/02\/05\/i-tried-to-kill-myself-twice-but-i-failed-former-bbc-journalist-turned-drug-addict\/","title":{"rendered":"I tried to kill myself twice but I failed \u2013 Former BBC Journalist turned drug addict"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"medsection1\">\n<!-- End of html generated by this->header() --><\/p>\n<p class=\"floatLeft\">General News of Monday,  5 February 2018<\/p>\n<p class=\"floatRight\"><strong>Source: <\/strong>kasapafmonline.com<\/p>\n<p>2018-02-05<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-left\">\n<p class=\"article-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/23573337.295.jpg\" alt=\"Joe Donkor Bbc Sld\" title=\"Joe Donkor Bbc Sld\" width=\"295\" height=\"170\" \/><span class=\"play-icon\">play video<\/span><span class=\"image_caption\"><span>Paa Joe Odonkor is a retired BBC Journalist<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"noPrint\">\n<div id=\"537626303\" style=\"width:300;height:250;margin:0;padding:0\">\n<p>\t\t  <noscript><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"b2ad7fa7fd\" name=\"b2ad7fa7fd\" src=\"http:\/\/ghanaweb-d.openx.net\/w\/1.0\/afr?auid=537626303&amp;cb=151125813973067\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\"><a href=\"\/\/ghanaweb-d.openx.net\/w\/1.0\/rc?cs=b2ad7fa7fd&amp;cb=151125813973067\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/1517850935_228_ai\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/iframe><\/noscript><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"clear:right\">Paa Joe Odonkor, a retired BBC Journalist has shared his 26 years experienced being a drug addict.<\/p>\n<p>His quest to be rich at a young age landed him in jail hence living a humiliating lifestyle.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking with SVTV Africa, Odonkor recounted  his regretful lifestyle which saw him having suicidal tendencies countless times because he felt ashamed of the kind of lifestyle he now lives, after previously being a well-to-do professional.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was working for the BBC but it wasn\u2019t paying well though it was a satisfactory job but my lifestyle was so big because I wanted to impress hence started dealing in drugs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy first assignment as a drug dealer was an Indian hemp and I made $4,000 and my second trip I made $8,000 so I said to myself that I will do it on my own and not for others. I went four trips with Indian Hemp to Italy, Switzerland and USA and after sometime, I started dealing with cocaine. With cocaine I was a big boy\u2026 As at December, 1982, I was controlling $162,000, I made bed-sheet of dollars at Ring Way Hotel which is now a Bank opposite Bus Stop.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t take taxi because I felt taking a taxi is a humiliation. I changed cars every two months\u2026 from Jaguar Xjs1, I brought Lincoln continental and the only car I never brought here was Bentley and Rolls Royce.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was busted in March, 1984 and that was the biggest catch of cocaine from the continent of Africa. I was arrested for carrying 142 tonnes of cocaine. My passport showed that I was younger.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter I left jail and came back home, I lost all my friends. As for the women, when you have deeper pocket and have lots of dollars they call you honey but when you get broke and develop holes in your pocket, they make themselves conveniently unavailable\u2026 they vanish.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOut of frustration, I started using the drug myself . Please don\u2019t try it\u2026 Don\u2019t let anybody deceive you. When you have 100 million now from Cocaine, within the next 4hours you will get broke and with the heroine, once you start taking it, within one month you get what we call Cold Turkey and without it you can\u2019t survive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour social life, your physical life is mostly destroyed when you are addicted to the heroine. I\u2019m begging my listeners not to make the same mistakes I made. I have seen women and slept with them at Grand Sheraton Hotel which I paid for $1500 a day. I have taken women to Venice too. I did all these just because I wanted to impress women. Yeah the women are just there because of your pocket. The day you will develop holes, they will call you pepper because the magic is gone. I will plead with you so that you don\u2019t make the mistakes I did.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday there are places that I go and they look down at me from my footwear to my head. I have worn seven roll suit. They are in England and they make the best suits. I wore Rolex and bought expensive things for my girlfriends. I bought green emeralds which is the highest diamond with 18 carats for my girlfriend but today when I see the women, they ask me, Jeff is that you and they give me a gift of $50.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPride place a back seat to the spreadsheet. You will say well I have \u2018flex\u2019 these women before but\u2026. I\u2019ve never flown on Zongo on an Air-craft before not even Ghana Airways. I go with Swiss Air or Pan Am and always Business class. I flew from Britain that is London to New York with Concord. I paid $4700 to go from London to New York which under normal circumstance if you go with VC10 or the Boeing 747 will take you about 6hours but with the Concord it will take you three and half hours.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut at the end of the day, you become humiliated and you will try to kill yourself. I have tried to kill myself two times but it didn\u2019t work. I drove a car into a tree at Asylum down but it didn\u2019t work. I also took 20grams of valium but I woke up earlier than I normally do. I said well stop fighting God and at that time I saw people who go to church like they don\u2019t have what it takes that is why they go and hide in church because I thought I was too smart. One time I told a guy that; You I will feed you for the rest of your life, you can\u2019t compare yourself to me\u2026. God forgive me. When I saw the guy today, he gave me pretenses. So I\u2019m such an emotional and sentimental person that when people despise me I feel so bad.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLife is about what you make it\u2026 I wanted to be rich and I became fabulously rich but then what news will it make when you are young and rich but getting to your 60s, you look like an AIDS patient or you look like a 75years old man. It is better you go through the mill and at the end of the day when you are getting older you can make it because there is a saying that the petonics give no explanation, for the majority do not look out for circumstantial details but for the successful and unsuccessful outcome. Almost without exception, people will pretend like they love you but it is articulating a minor motive against an inarticulate major motive\u2026 all they want is your pocket.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt the end of the day I thank God that I\u2019m alive though I still get this suicidal tendencies once in a while but then I really want to impart this free advice to you, If you take it, it is going to help you. The worse thing that can happen to you isn\u2019t broken heart but when you are hook to drugs\u2026Yes when you\u2019re a slave to drug, many people will despise you. I will appeal that when people are able to keep the habit, society shouldn\u2019t neglect them because when you start neglecting them they will feel to go back. I\u2019m not calling for sympathy but it makes you go back and do the old things. I\u2019ve been a drug addict for 26years.<\/p>\n<p>I have a good and a very loving family. My elder brother is a pilot with America Airways, the second one is an artist in UK. I\u2019ve one sister who is very famous, her daughter was Miss Ghana 2003 winner but then who wants her uncle to be like this. My family supports me. I have a kid but we don\u2019t have a contact, he is in Switzerland. I turned out to deny him that is why we have lost contact. I treated my wife badly but thank God she has forgiven me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/content.jwplatform.com\/players\/anPYjtVs-GtVgZhNx.html\" width=\"600\" height=\"350\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"auto\" allowfullscreen=\"\" style=\"position:absolute;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Ghanaian dancehall and latest Zylofon Media Signee, Shatta Wale after carefully watching the touching interview of the retired BBC journalist, Paa Joe Odonkor was inspired and requested to meet him.<\/p>\n<p>In a post he shared on his Facebook timeline, he indicated his readiness to meet with the experienced journalist who once lived a great life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanna see this man and just shake him..please..he just made me shed tears\u2026please please and please..arrange that and let me meet him..GOD BLESS YOU PAA JOE DONKOR..I LOVE YOU.\u201d Shatta posted on Facebook.<\/p>\n<p><!-- uploaded by: 48 updated by: 48 --><\/p>\n<p><!-- Start of html generated by this->footer() -->\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a style=\"display:none\" rel=\"follow\" href=\"http:\/\/megatheme.ir\/\" title=\"\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633\">\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>General News of Monday, 5 February 2018 Source: kasapafmonline.com 2018-02-05 play videoPaa Joe Odonkor is a retired BBC Journalist Paa Joe Odonkor, a retired BBC Journalist has shared his 26 years experienced being a drug addict. His quest to be rich at a young age landed him in jail hence living a humiliating lifestyle. Speaking [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":461622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-461621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461621\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}