A criminologist at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Dr Jones Opoku-Ware, has warned that Ghana's growing drug problem is no longer only a criminal ju
The report indicates that a criminologist at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Dr Jones Opoku-Ware, has warned that Ghana’s growing drug problem is no longer only a criminal justice issue but has developed into a public health crisis that requires urgent national attention.
It further notes that speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Monday, July 27, during a discussion on the JoyNews Hotline documentary, Deadly Doses II, Dr Opoku-Ware stated the country’s drug landscape had changed significantly over the years, making the trade and abuse of narcotics increasingly difficult to detect and control.
“It is not just a criminal act as we probably used to have it sometimes, but now it is becoming a public or, in fact, it’s even become a public health crisis for which all of us as a country have to be very worried about,” he said.
According to him, one of the most worrying developments is the rapid evolution of the illegal drug trade, with traffickers and users adopting new methods that are harder for authorities to monitor.
“I think that what is even more worrying is the fact that over the years, there seems to be a gradual shift in the way we used to know substance abuse and drug dealings in the country,” he said.
Dr Opoku-Ware explained that while drug trafficking in the past followed patterns that security agencies could monitor to some extent, the situation has changed dramatically.
“The mere fact that there is this latent metamorphosis of the drug dealings in the country and abuse is what worries me more,” he said.
He stated that the new methods of distributing and abusing drugs have made it much more difficult for law enforcement agencies to trace those involved.
“Now we have a system in place that is very difficult to track. And the kind of people that are being introduced to this kind of system that we have now, in terms of the drug dealings, it worries me because even the ones that were somehow done in a way that we could track, we were finding problems in tracking them. How much more those that we are dealing with in a way that is very difficult to track?”
The criminologist also expressed concern about the growing number of young people affected by substance abuse.
He stated available research indicates that people within the country’s youthful population account for most substance abuse cases, making the situation even more alarming.
“Looking at the patterns as we are seeing it now, some research has even suggested that youth… are mostly those that are suffering from substance abuse disorder,” he said.
“And so if you have this pattern reflected in the youth or among the youth in a country, it tells you that we really have a grave issue and for which all of us as a country will need to come together.”
During the discussion, the programme host asked whether drugs such as cannabis and Tramadol were still the most abused substances or whether new drugs had emerged on the market.
