Let's renew our commitment to fighting drug menace - Minister

Tamale, June 26, GNA - Ghana needs to renew its commitment to fighting drug abuse and trafficking if it is to protect the youth and the survival of the country. Dr. Kwame Addo-Kufuor, Minister of the Interior, said this in a speech read on his behalf at a durbar to mark "International Day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking" in Tamale on Thursday. The celebration was on the theme: "Do drugs control your life?" Dr Addo-Kufuor said trafficking and use of drugs in the country had reached unacceptable dimensions.

"The drug menace has put in danger the lives of the youth, whom the nation is looking up to for support and valuable contributions in the next phase of its development agenda," he said. The Interior Minister expressed concern about the alarming rate at which the country's educational institutions had been turned into drug dens with drugs selling points openly located and advertised within the vicinity of secondary schools. He therefore called for a stop to the accusations and counter-accusations among political groupings as to who was responsible for the current situation. "What the accusations and counter-accusations tell us is that the current situation cannot be laid exclusively at the doorstep of any group." "We are collectively responsible for this state of affairs as a people and we must collectively find a solution to it", he said.

Dr. Addo-Kufuor said: "While the blame game is on, the political groupings should not fail to notice that the drug barons are listening and busily doing their destructive business of hooking young people onto drug addiction, destroying young and innocent lives". He said the situation in which the country finds itself now called for a concerted effort on the part of the family, communities, traditional authorities, corporate organisations, NGOs and the government to address it.

He said government on its part had shown commitment to fighting drugs in many respects, citing the setting up of the "Georgina Wood Committee" to probe aspects of the drug issue, the restructuring of the Narcotics Control Board and partnering international bodies to help deal with the menace. Dr. Addo-Kufuor pledged government's resolve and his own determination to deal ruthlessly with the drug menace saying: "We have got to a stage where no stone should be left unturned in the fight against drug abuse and illicit trafficking". Mr. Ban Ki-Moon the United Nations Secretary-General, in a speech read for him, said with international cooperation and technical assistance policymakers could now draw on a growing body of evidence about drug dependence and drug-use trends to combat drug trafficking. He however acknowledged that there was still much to be done to reduce vulnerability to drugs and that states with weak criminal justice systems and limited law enforcement capabilities needed assistance to reduce illicit drug trafficking. He said drug trafficking was responsible for the spread of crime, corruption and instability, which ultimately endangered the successful realisation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The UN Secretary-General called on member states of the world body to respect the rights of prisoners who were drug dependent or were in custody for drug-related crimes, especially their rights to life and fair trial.

He urged member states to ensure that people who were struggling with drug addiction were given equal access to health and social services saying: "No one should be stigmatised or discriminated against because of their dependence on drugs".

Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, Northern Regional Minister, said there was a rising incidence of drug abuse in the region particularly among the youth, adding that students who abuse drugs were responsible for disturbances in the schools and communities. He said drug abuse promoted truancy among the youth and affected their academic performance and that about 70 per cent of psychiatric cases reported among the youth were drug-related. He therefore suggested testing options for drugs at the Senior High School level to save students from the drug habits of their colleagues.