The Interior Minister, Mr Mark Woyongo, has stated that the security agencies have chalked up tremendous success in the fight against the drug menace in the country.
He said through intelligence, cannabis being cultivated on arable land in the Northern, Brong Ahafo, Eastern and Volta regions had been identified and destroyed by the security agencies.
Mr Woyongo, who said this in a speech read on his behalf at the opening session of the second West Africa Executive Course on Human Rights and Drug Policy in Accra yesterday, noted that in the face of logistical and financial constraints, the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) had done well in dealing with the drug problem in the country.
He said, over the past years, supply suppression activities had been increased, leading to the arrest, conviction and confiscation of proceeds from drug crime, with the help of a friendly and cooperative judicial system.
That move, he said, had disrupted some, if not most, of the drug networks in the country.
The minister, however, indicated that while some years ago Ghana was seen only as a transit point for cocaine and heroin from South America and Asia, respectively, to Europe and North America, recent checks revealed that the population of cocaine and heroin addicts in the country was growing steadily.
He said that phenomenon had become a great concern for the government and it was being tackled earnestly.
Mr Woyongo further expressed concern over reports that some health professionals were abusing opium-based drugs such as pethidine to manage their stress.
According to him, pethidine, which is used as an anesthetic in hospitals and clinics, was used by some doctors and nurses to manage stress.
He described the development as very worrying and indicated that if urgent steps were not taken, the country could risk losing quality human resource to drug abuse and addiction.
He said the Chief Psychiatrist, Dr Akwasi Osei, had noted on several platforms that some medical doctors and nurses were abusing opium-based drugs.
Mr Woyongo said currently all officers of NACOB in the regional capitals devoted more than 90 per cent of their resources to demand reduction activities.
He said that included educational sensitisation, counselling and rehabilitation programmes in communities, faith-based institutions, educational institutions and metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies.
The Executive Secretary of NACOB, Mr Yaw Akrasi-Sarpong, said NACOB had embarked on programmes aimed at developing and equipping the youth with skills to resist the temptation to use drugs.
<<Print>>