Chief Executives deplore youth and Indian hemp

Dormaa-Ahenkro (B/A), Jan. 25, GNA - Chief Executives of the two Assemblies in Dormaa Traditional Area have expressed dismay at the rapid ascendancy of Indian hemp smoking among the youth in the area. In separate interviews with the Ghana News Agency, Mr. Vincent Oppong Asamoah and Mr. Isaac Kyeremeh, Dormaa Municipal Chief Executive and Dormaa East District Chief Executive, condemned the obsession in "wee" smoking among the youth, including school children.

The interviews came on the heels of a circuit court hearing at Dormaa-Ahenkro, of a case involving 11 young men, including Junior High School pupils, charged with possession of narcotics contrary to section 2(1) of the PNDCL 236/90.

The 11 suspects were rounded up in the two districts during the Christmas festivities when the police embarked on swoops in a special exercise code named "Operation Father Christmas" to ensure that people enjoyed the yuletide in peace.

The two Chief Executives described the growing incidence of "wee" smoking as a major challenge in their districts and stressed the need for a collective and multi-purpose strategy to eliminate it. Mr. Kyeremeh noted with regret that parents were not doing much in the moral upbringing of their children, saying that in the event of the arrest of such drug suspects by security agencies their parents and opinion leaders made frantic efforts to get them released.

Mr. Asamoah said the Assemblies were devising strategies in collaboration with the security agencies to identify all existing dens of criminals so as to smoke them out and deal with them once and for all. He urged parents to support the law enforcement agencies in their bid to correct wayward children and make them responsible citizens capable of contributing to the development of society.