Reverend Deegbe Urges Ghanaians to Crusade Hard Against Hard Drug Use in the Country

Politicians and Ghanaians in general have been called upon to put behind their differences, and join forces to kick the hard drugs completely from the country, before it brings the dignity of the nation into irreparable dispute.

Rev. Fred Deegbe, the General Secretary of the Christian Council made the appeal in an interview with the ADM last weekend.

He pleaded: "We have a lot of goodwill from the world, we do not need this bad reputation for ourselves at this time".

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As the nation struggles to come to terms with the cocaine scandal which has rocked her in recent times, new trends for the promotion of another narcotic drug, Indian hemp, are beginning to unfold.

Within the last few weeks some unscrupulous business entities have begun promoting Indian hemp, popularly referred to as 'Wee', through the use of car stickers and arm bands.

Interestingly, the car stickers with the 'wee' leaves have the caption 'Weed of Wisdom' boldly written beneath them, while the arm bands come in the Red, Gold and Green colours with the 'wee' plant or leaves boldly embossed in black on the yellow colour. The reference to the hemp as the 'Weed of Wisdom' according to those who patronize it, is to justify the age old belief that its use was biblical since the legendary King Solomon used it so much so that after his death the weed was planted on his tomb to give him permanent supply.

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The Minister for National Security, Mr Francis Kwaku Poku, yesterday sounded the alarm that the large quantities of narcotics being trafficked into Ghana could destabilise the country's democratic institutions.

He said there was real fear that drug barons could infiltrate the Legislature, Judiciary and political parties and that could destabilise all the democratic institutions.

Mr Poku sounded the alarm when he gave evidence before the Justice Georgina Wood Committee, and urged all Ghanaians to deal with the cocaine issue in a non-partisan manner.

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The Georgina Wood Committee, which is probing the missing cocaine affair, has not finished its assignment but so far the probe has given even those who were sceptical some signals that it means business.

It is investigating the theft of 77 parcels of cocaine from the Tema Port.

Even though it is a fact-finding committee which has limited powers, there is every indication that the committee would get to the root of the matter, which has worsened the image of our country as a cocaine transit point.

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Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Joe Ghartey, said the Government was adopting an integrated approach in the fight against drug trafficking to ensure that the country did not become a safe haven for narcotic drug traffickers.

Speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday regarding narcotic drug trafficking, Mr. Ghartey said the measures being used were developed after a thorough assessment and included improving relationships with other stakeholders, intensive capacity building and constant monitoring and evaluation.

He said the Government had taken seriously the threat of narcotics because they destroy people, families and neighbourhoods as well as countries.

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Dear Editor,

Many young people make some mistakes during adolesence which affect them throughout their lives.It is at this stage in their lives that they become very vulnerable and prone to all sorts of vices.

Therefore, I suggest that effective counselling be introduced in schools to counsel students in all aspects of their lives.

Also, many students constantly face peer pressure and influence from their colleagues. They smoke marijuana with the wrong belief that it will enhance their studies.

After learning these bad things from their peers in school, they join the larger society with such habits.

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Their reckoning, politicians blow a lot of hot air and especially during an election year, are bound to oOverdo things in their bid to sway the opinions of voters in their favour. Such zealousness in the political arena is nothing new and because elections are time bombs, the moment results are known, the temperature comes down and life continues its mundane meandering.

EVEN THOUGH some Ghanaians perceive the utterances of some politicians as highly dangerous and capable of compromising the security of this country, such a scenario has been rubbished by others as unduly alarmist.

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. And For A Nation A Statesman Gone Beserk, Overboard

He was one of the good athletes on campus. He ran the 400 meters with the strides of Ed Moses. He had the potential of becoming a world-beater, yet he only settled for the school's 400-meter relay. He had a problem. He was a victim of Acquired Hallucination. In parables, he was a voluntary gardener, who gathered weeds and burned them whenever he willed it.

Like most students, he had a nickname. He was called Solo Pee. It originated from an event in which he played the leading role. He had gone to incur the displeasure of another colleague and got beaten up for his troubles.

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THE death of Kiki Gyan, one of Ghana's most talented musicians recently, has once again underscored the need for proper drug rehabilitation centers to take care of the growing menace of drug addiction in the country.

Had Kiki had the benefit of a proper drug rehabilitation regime, perhaps he would have still been around today to enhance our music with his scintillating performances.

Although one hesitates to admit that he was killed because of a drug overdose, those who knew his prolonged battle with drug addiction will tell you differently. The fact remains that no proper drug rehabilitation center exists in this country to take care of the thousands upon thousands of our youth who have fallen prey to hard drugs like cocaine, heroin and marijuana.

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Kumasi - THE PHARMACEUTICAL Society of Ghana (PSG) has called for the establishment of more rehabilitation centres as an effective way of controlling drug addiction.

It has also urged Parliament to expedite the passage of the Bill against Tobacco smoking.

Mr. Frank A. Boateng, President of PSG raised these concerns at a meeting with media men, health professionals and pharmacists in Kumasi last Friday, to mark the International Day against Drug abuse and Drug trafficking.

Dwelling on "Treament really works", the theme for the observation of the day set aside by the United Nations, Boateng said illicit drug trafficking was a global problem affecting about 200 million worldwide.

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THE POLICE administration is investigating a case in which the Akwatia Police Command in the Eastern Region is alleged to have bribed an informant to drop a case against a suspected drug peddler.

On September 22, 2003, Mr Frank Matey Sackitey lodged a complaint to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) with c100, 000 alleged to be the bribe money given him by the police as his share for alerting them about the drug transaction by a certain Kofi Savie.

The bribe was intended to influence the informant to soften his stand.

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The Narcotic Control Board is putting up measures to descend on drug dealers at Madina Zongo, who are currently sharing the same barracks with the Police Service and causing public nuisance.

Mr. Kwame Addo of the Narcotic Control Board told ADM in an interview that "what the Board would be doing is to study the area, investigate the circumstance and swoop on them especially picking the suppliers."

He said the Board was recently made aware of the existence of this drug centre and assured that a mechanism would soon be put in place to deal with the problem.

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Feds Promoting Prohibition--in Ghana

WHAT IF a poor African country could grow a plant that would fetch healthy prices in the U.S? What if the plant was harvested on small farms, encouraging democracy in this poor African country by putting cash into the hands of its poorest and most powerless people? What if such a crop would reduce the poor African country's dependence on U.S. aid?

Of course, America's government would cheer such a plant and the country that grows it. And President George Bush would be especially happy, since improving living standards in Africa is supposed to be one of his key global objectives.

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Mr Mahama B. Mumuni, Deputy Coordinating Director for the Tolon Kumbungu District on Thursday appealed to groups and individuals who were engaged in the campaign to curb the HIV/AIDS pandemic to focus on the poor and drug addicts as a means of reducing the scourge.

Mr Mumuni, who is also the District Focal Person on HIV/AIDS made the appeal when he addressed the chiefs and people of Tolon in the Tolon/Kumbungu District during the formal launch of Life Care Foundation (LCF), an NGO operating in Tamale in conjunction with the GARFUND to give education on the dangers of HIV/AIDS.

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The head of the United Nations drug and crime office has reported that sub-Saharan Africa is the region most impacted by organized crime, and that outlaws were increasingly turning to high technology.

Antonio Maria Costa, the Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) told the General Assembly's Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee that his office had recently developed a composite index of organized crime, combining data on over 10 factors, and then ran the factors through the computers.

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LATEST INFORMATION gathered from the Narcotics Control Board indicates that about 2,618 kilograms of narcotic drugs worth millions of dollars in street value have been confiscated in the last of six months.

A total of 520 people were arrested for drug trafficking over the same period, Mr. Kwame Addo, information officer of the board, told The Chronicle in Accra yesterday.

Of the illicit drugs confiscated 10.2 kg were cocaine, 7.6kg were heroin and 2,601kg were cannabis (wee).

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The Ashanti Regional Zonal officer of the Food and drugs Board (FDB), Mr. P.K. Agyemang-Duah, has blamed the electronic media for the proliferation of unwholesome drugs on the Ghanaian market.

According to him, the various electronic media houses have perpetually refused to comply with the laws governing drug advertisements and continue to advertise various kinds of illicit drugs.

Agyemang-Duah explained to The Chronicle in an interview that media houses are required by law to get clearance from the FDB before advertising a particular drug, adding that jingles of such adverts have to also be vetted and approved by the Board before they are played on air.

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Accra

The Centre for Moral Education (CEMED), an NGO aimed at 'instilling moral values and discipline in the youth", is to form about 60 virgins and drug-free clubs in the Ashanti Region by the end of this year.

Mr. Opoku-Agyemang Prempeh, Executive President of the CEMED said already 20 of the clubs have been formed in the region.

Mr. Prempeh was speaking at an emergency meeting of Executives of the CEMED held in Kumasi to assess their performance for the first quarter of the year.

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Major Abdul Braimah, Deputy Executive Secretary of the Narcotic Control Board on Monday called for effective collaboration between the Drug Law enforcement agencies and postal institutions in the fight against drug trafficking and money laundering in the country. He said there was the need to reduce suspicion and antagonism between the various institutions.

They should rather forge a common front in dealing with the drug menace. "It is time to hit the drug industry and hit the operators so hard to send a strong message to them that our society and institutions cannot be used to facilitate drug trafficking and money laundering," Mr. Braimah said at the opening of a five-day workshop on drug trafficking and money laundering.

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Analysis of the Narcotic Control Board indicates that the number of people arrested for drug trafficking has considerably increased from 982 as at the year 2000 to 1056 in the year 2001, while about 1182 patients have been admitted at the Accra, Pantang, and Ankaful Psychriatic hospitals, all told, for the abuse of drugs.

Mr. S. Addo, the Narcotic Officer of the board, intimated to the Chronicle in an exclusive interview yesterday that convicts are normally arrested for cannabis ( wee), since it is also the most abused drugs by addicts, particularly the youth.

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