An estimated 82,500 Ghanaians are actively using hard drugs, with the Ashanti Region accounting for nearly 20 per cent of the figure, the Director-General of the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC), Major General Maxwell Obuba, has disclosed.
He said the disturbing figure, contained in a new study by the University of Ghana School of Public Health, pointed to an escalating public health emergency that required urgent and coordinated action.
The drugs identified in the study include heroin, cocaine, tramadol and methamphetamine.
Speaking in Kumasi on Wednesday during the International Youth Day celebration, Maj. Gen. Obuba said the 82,500 estimate did not include cannabis, which remained the most widely abused illegal substance in the country.
He said the study also revealed a worrying link between hard drug use and the spread of HIV in the Ashanti Region, where an estimated 16,300 hard drug users were recorded.
According to the study, HIV prevalence among drug users in the region stood at 6.6 per cent, nearly five times Ghana’s national prevalence of *1.4 per cent**.
Maj. Gen. Obuba expressed concern about the devastating impact of drug use on the youth, warning that failure to address the problem could have serious health, social and economic consequences for the country.
“The statistics highlight the urgent need for stronger interventions to prevent drug use and address its consequences,” he said.
He stressed that traditional law enforcement alone could not address the problem and called for a multi-pronged approach that combined prevention with medical and social support.
He urged families, schools, traditional authorities and community leaders to play a greater role in protecting young people from substance abuse.
He also advocated increased investment in rehabilitation facilities to support people battling drug dependence and help them reintegrate into society.
Maj. Gen. Obuba’s call for substance dependence to be treated as a public health issue is in line with the objectives of the **Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020 (Act 1019).
The legislation, signed into law by former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, established a Substance Use Disorder Rehabilitation Fund and placed greater emphasis on treatment and rehabilitation rather than imprisonment for minor personal drug use.
At a workshop for police prosecutors and detectives in Kumasi, a former boss of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), Yaw Akrasi Sarpong, urged security personnel to embrace the shift in approach.
“Drug use is a public health issue just like malaria or an ulcer,” Mr Sarpong said, questioning why the state should spend substantial public funds imprisoning people for small-scale possession.
Civil society organisations, including the POS Foundation, have also supported the reform, arguing that imprisoning people for minor cannabis-related offences could harden rather than reform them and create further social challenges when they were released.
FROM KINGSLEY E. HOPE, KUMASI
Follow our WhatsApp Channel now! https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbAjG7g3gvWajUAEX12Q
