Sabon Zango youth holds seminar against drug abuse

The youth of Sabon Zango a suburb of Accra has over the weekend organized a day-long seminar on drug abuse.

The seminar was in connection with moves by the Chief of Sabon Zango to eradicate drug peddling as they curb the menace of drug addiction among the youth in the community.

The programme was organized in collaboration with various departments including Health, the District Police Command, Arabic Schools and representatives of various groups within the locality.

Addressing the participants, a Clinical Psychologist/psycho-oncologist at the Korle-bu Teaching Hospital, Dr. Salisu Abdul-Rahim Ango stated that usage of hard drugs among the people especially the upcoming generation is alarming and very dangerous as it may be easy for the young ones to get involved.

He said there are many ways one can get himself involved in drugs which include curiosity, voluntary act, among others, adding that many are those who start gradually before it gets used to their system and begins to have effect on them.

The implementation by the youth of the community to protect the upcoming generation from any form of hard drugs he said, needs collective efforts from people with the courage to fight against the canker of drug abuse.

The committee formed to fight against the canker according to him have a lot of technical and strategic measures in dealing with the issue which has become a nightmare among the good people of Sabon Zango and its environs.

According to him, many of the youth are those who believe using drugs whiles learning is the best way to learn faster. This, he advised the youth to disregard urging them to rather concentrate and have more time to learn.

He said most of the youth abuse drugs to prevent them from sleeping in order to help in their activities like superbet and internet cafe business.

He said that it is not a good practice for one to use drugs in those cases.

Explaining the effects of drugs, Dr. Salisu Abdul-Rahim Anglo revealed that drugs have huge effect on the brain and have a tendency to affect the learning activities and make the person behave abnormally.

Other effects he said include Cancer, Langs and kidney infection and urge the youth to stay away from its use because its effects are enormous as compared to its benefits.