The Department of Social Welfare and Community Development has taken a proactive stance in organising a series of educative programs targeted at the youth to positively change their mindset on the use of drugs and other harmful substances. These programs became necessary as the stakeholders in the community are facing increasing numbers of youth engaged in the use of drugs, resulting in a high school dropout rate. In collaboration with the Narcotics Control Commission (NCC), a two-day education on the effects of drugs and other substances was organised for some selected public schools and youth in La. The program brought together youth from all the ten electoral areas of LaDMA for the exercise.

NCC is under the Ministry of the Interior, Ghana, and exists to implement provisions of existing legislation and international conventions on narcotics, psychotropic substances, and precursor chemicals through enforcement and control, education and preventive measures, as well as treatment and rehabilitation of drug addicts. The Greater Accra Regional Narcotics Control Commission team that came for the program was led by Mr. Abdul Aziz Ali, and other officers, including Kwamena Sekyi Aidoo, Josephine Asare, and Sandra Thompson.

The program was opened by Bonaparte Ashitey Ollennu, the unit head for the Community Development. In his submissions, he highlighted several complaints by residents of La to the Municipal Chief Executive about excessive smoking of Indian hemp and the use of illicit drugs by the youth in the community. The Department of Social Welfare & Community Development was tasked by the MCE and Traditional Council to help educate and find out why the youth engage in this act.

Mr. Abdul Aziz Ali, the team lead for the program, introduced the subject by asking participants what a drug is. He defined a drug as a medicine or other substance that has a physiological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body. He went further to explain that drugs have caused severe harm to people in the country. He said that drug use could result in bad temper, madness, partial disability, and death among other effects. Mr. Abdul Aziz Ali advised that one person’s medication should not be given to another person, but instead, a sick person should be encouraged to seek medical attention or a doctor’s prescription.

The symptoms of drug abuse were outlined, including stealing, darkening of fingertips and lips, unusual smell and dirty clothes, frequent use of sunglasses, red or bloodshot eye, and lack of interest in work, school, church, etc. The effects of drug use include damaged liver, suicide, deformed children, premature birth, deformity of the body, poverty (spending all money on drugs), and many more.

A video presentation was used to illustrate the dangers of drug abuse, including three case studies. Paa Joe Odonkor, a BBC journalist and drug addict, narrated his life story of dealing and using drugs. He got quick money, bought expensive cars, and lived in luxury, but in the end, he became a beggar and relied on the benevolence of the public for his survival. Another man, Amakye Kwamena Boakye, narrated how he started taking in hard drugs under the influence of some Nigerian friends in 1991 and continued in the act for fifteen years. He said he has not been able to get closer to a woman. A young lady named Blessing Afia Arthur, in her video, said she dropped out of school in JHS 3, found gambling as a trade, and eventually got into drugs. She also shared how she capitalized on her innocent looks and beauty to charm unsuspecting men to get money from them. She resorted to sleeping with different men to get money for drugs.

The community engagement brought to light the problems that need to be addressed, including the excessive smoking of Indian hemp