Students urged to stay away from drugs
The Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) has taken its drug education programme to second-cycle schools within the Accra Metropolis in a bid to bring down the rate of drug use among the youth in the city.
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The move is in line with the NACOB’s view that students, whether in or out of school, are strategic change agents and are effective in ensuring positive behaviour change in the area of drug use.
The programme is under the auspices of the Philip Foundation, a non-governmental organisation, and the Community Anti-Drug Coalition (CADCA) of the USA.
At one of such sensitisation programmes at the Faith Community Baptist School in Accra at the weekend, the Head of Public Education of the NACOB, Mr Solomon Eyo, advised the students to stay away from any substance which, when taken, can modify perception, mood and cognitive behaviour.
The use of such substances, he said, could have serious effects on their mental health and wellbeing.
He named some of the drugs which altered perception, mood and cognitive behaviour as cannabis, cocaine, mephedrone, ecstacy and speed, among many others.
Cannabis
He said cannabis was a calming drug that altered perception and made people feel relaxed and happy but also made users feel lethargic, very anxious, paranoid and even psychotic.
According to him, cannabis had been linked to mental health problems such as schizophrenia and, when smoked, had the potential of causing lung diseases, including asthma.
He said cannabis affected how the brain worked and so regular use could make concentration difficult.
Cocaine
Mr Eyo said cocaine gave the user energy, a feeling of happiness, being wide awake and an overconfidence that could lead to taking risks
The effects, he added, were short-lived, so more drugs were always taken by the users which was often accompanied by a nasty “comedown.”
Users, he said, were prone to dying from overdoses of overstimulating their hearts and nervous systems which could lead to heart attacks.
The others
He said mephedrone, ecstacy and speed had similar effects as cocaine, and warned the students to stay way from them.
Organisers
The Business Manager of Philip Foundation, Ms Sandra Gyaama, said Ghana had failed to commit adequate resources to the fight against the drug menace, especially in the area of education.
She acknowledged the fact that some successes had been chalked up in the enforcement of laws, but said failure to allocate resources for education made mockery of the advancement made in that regard.
The failure of the government, donors and corporate institutions to join forces to fight the drug menace, she said, had a direct effect on the youth.
“When the youth get increasingly frustrated and jobless and have no hope for the future, they tend to engage in anything that provides a means of survival and that includes the sale and use of drugs.
Their cliche then will be ‘live by fair means if you can and foul means if you must’ and the foul means could be the sale and purchase and use of illicit drugs. And those whose actions and inactions placed the young persons in that state would be pounced on by the frustrated youth,” she said.
Ms Gyaama urged all Ghanaians to utilise the time, resources, power and authority at their disposal to stop the sale and use of illicit drugs “and put a smile on the face of the youth.”
“Together, we can make our country drug-free,” she added.
