Girl,16, smoked ‘wee’ in search of academic excellence

In her quest for academic brilliance and excellence, a 16-year old Junior High School pupil in Accra found herself hooked on marijuana, popularly known as wee, which she smoked for weeks.

Her addiction forced her to join a gang and eventually, the drug affected her psyche as she started behaving abnormally, which was suspected to be schizophrenia.

The minor, name withheld, told TV3’s Akosua Adjei Sono that her friends introduced her to wee smoking one day when they were out playing.

“I involved myself in a drug abuse. We were once playing together and one of them went and bought it and said we should all smoke together,” she said

Her aunty, Christian Sevodzi, said it was people in their neighbourhood who brought their attention to the girl’s smoking habit. She said they realized she was occasionally delusional; something that prompted them to seek treatment for her at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.

“People complained to me that the child had started smoking wee and that she has been behaving abnormally. She hears voices in her mind that she should run away, which she obeys so we called a doctor at Korle-Bu who asked us to bring her,” the aunty told TV3

Today, the girl has recovered from the mental disorder thanks to the treatment she received from the doctors at the Psychiatry Department of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, and now says “I feel okay” to be well again.

Meanwhile, records from the Department shows at least two cases of schizophrenia and drug abuse are reported at the facility daily and that a total of 13 patients were treated and discharged in October, 2015.

The Principal Nursing Oficer of the Psychiatry Department, Victoria Korangteng, said except laboratory investigations and X-ray examinations and other services that are covered under the National Health Insurance, a daily admission fee of GHC100 is always borne by the patients.

She said the existent of the 13-bed facility is not known to so many people, saying “People are not aware that Korle Bu Teaching Hospital now has a unit that seeks to psychiatry conditions.