Drugs control your life ... Stop it!

Page 9: Daily Graphic, July 23, 2009.
Article: Albert K. Salia
GHANA joined the rest of the world on Friday, June 26, 2009, to climax a three-year anti-drugs campaign launched by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on the sub-theme, “Illicit drug trafficking”.
The campaign, which was launched on June 26, 2007 with the slogan, "Do drugs control your life? Your life. Your community. No place for drugs", had been celebrated with focus on different aspects of drug control to commemorate the International Day Against Illicit Drug Trafficking. In 2007, the sub-theme was drug abuse while in 2008 the emphasis was on drug cultivation and production. For this year, the focus is on illicit drug trafficking.
The sub-theme for this year’s commemoration of the International Day Against Illicit Drug Trafficking aims at raising awareness of the major problem that illicit drugs represent to society. No individual, family or community is safe where illicit drugs take control. Drugs may control the body and mind of individual consumers, the drug crop and drug cartels may control farmers, illicit trafficking and crime may control communities.
It is in the light of this that the campaign seeks to inspire people and mobilise support for drug control. The international campaign "Do drugs control your life? Your life. Your community. No place for drugs" communicates that the destructive effects of illicit drugs concern us all. Their use harms individuals, families and society at large.
Teenagers and young adults are particularly vulnerable to using illicit drugs. The prevalence of drug use among young people is more than twice as high as that among the general population. At this age, peer pressure to experiment with illicit drugs can be strong and self-esteem is often low. Also, those who take drugs tend to be either misinformed or insufficiently aware of the health risks involved.
The Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Antonio Maria Costa, notes that, "drugs are also poisoning the region’s (West Africa) youth since the foot soldiers in this growing trade are paid for their services with cocaine. As a result, the vulnerability of West Africa to drugs and crime is deepening even further".
A consultant psychiatrist and a member of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), Dr J. B. Asare, also notes that, “the use of drugs in Ghana is mainly an activity of the youth. About 80 per cent of drug related admissions to the Accra Psychiatric Hospital are between the ages of 16 and 29 years. As more youth become addicted, our investment in our children and the human resource base of our country is being threatened”.
It is in this vein that the UNODC campaign seeks to reach out to young people, who often talk about the "highs" induced by illicit drugs but may not be aware of the many "lows". Illicit drug use is a concern because it poses a threat to their health. Negative effects vary depending on the type of drug consumed, the doses taken and the frequency of use. All illicit drugs have immediate physical effects, but they can also severely hinder psychological and emotional development, especially among young people. Leading a healthy lifestyle requires making choices that are mindful of body and mind. To make these choices, young people need guidance from role models and need to get the facts about drug use. The international campaign provides young people and others with tools to educate themselves about the health risks associated with illicit drug use.
One cannot run away from the untimely deaths through accidents; upsurge in the number of the mentally derailed; increase in crime rate; unnecessary deformities; disorderliness and disregard for elders. These are obvious dangers posed by illicit drugs on Ghana and its citizens.
The economic impact of drug abuse on businesses whose employees abuse drugs can be significant. Economically, businesses often are affected because employees who abuse drugs sometimes steal cash or supplies, equipment, and products that can be sold to get money to buy drugs.
Moreover, absenteeism, lost productivity and increased use of medical and insurance benefits by employees who abuse drugs affect a business financially.
It is important to appreciate that other crimes whose effect might not be physical but subtle are the economic and commercial crimes associated with drugs. Counterfeiting, currency trafficking, smuggling, tax evasion, bribery, corruption, money laundering are examples of such drug-related crimes which hit weak national economies of states where drug trafficking thrives.
It must be understood that these are corrosive crimes since they undermine the nation, thereby, directly or indirectly generating negative forces that can create political, economic and social tensions. They are crimes that kill slowly but surely.
As K. B. Quantson puts it, "weak economies, with weak weightless currencies, over-liberalised economic policies, in an environment of inordinate, even irrational dependence on foreign consumer items, some of them more exotic than our circumstances dictate, are particularly attractive to drug-dealing because of the ready foreign exchange that they provide".
Certainly, we need not forget the impact on our criminal justice system and the various state institutions that no more function as required because the drug cartels have taken hold of them.
According to the UNODC, many assume that the illicit drug trade is a source of employment without any costs for those unable to find productive work in other sectors. But inevitably the employment gains generated by the drug trade are more than offset by various side effects. Two such effects include the inevitable spillover from drug production into consumption, which impacts negatively on productivity, and the sacrifice of resources diverted from legitimate and more sustainable investments.
Criminal entrepreneurship in any economy introduces a parasitic, anti-competitive approach to doing business as intimidation, violence and extortion rather than free-market competition serve as the primary determinants of resource allocation.
It is important to note that because drug addicts attach little or no value at all to their lives, they consider it a strenuous task to value other people’s lives. To them, life is valueless. Most gory accident scenes that characterize the roads of this country could be a resultant effect of the actions of these addicts who ride bikes or drive cars under the influence of drugs. While some victims lost their lives in the process, others are left with permanent deformities.
David Friedman contends that the link between drugs and violent crime could occur in three ways: violent crime by consumers of drugs, violent crime associated with the production and distribution of drugs, or violent crime directly associated with the attempt to enforce drug prohibition.
Besides, there are crimes such as armed robberies, rape and other violent ones that leave in their wake not only the physical damage inflicted but traumatic scars that haunt the victims for a long time.
The Executive Director of the UNODC, Antonio Maria Costa, warns that the drug problem in West Africa, "is growing exponentially and threatening to turn the region into an epicentre of lawlessness and instability. This is the last thing West Africa needs".
Certainly, no one can run away from the fact that drugs controls his or her life. You might not be trading in drugs or consuming drugs. But it is important to note that drugs do indeed control everyone’s life.
The onus of curbing this menace from escalating lies on all and sundry; nobody is exempted. From the home-front, parents should take it upon themselves to educate, monitor and caution their children on inherent dangers these drugs pose to their lives. This responsibility neither lies on parents alone non the teachers in schools. Both parents and teachers, community elders, government authorities and the general public should be involved in the collective fight against this social menace.
Educational institutions are not left out. They have an enormous task being a key player in children’s life. The task before them involves educating the children on the negative effect of drugs. This could be enhanced by establishing Drug Free Club in schools with the view to propagate the message effectively through debate, drama, workshops and seminars. This means augmenting the efforts of parents who are playing their roles at the home-front and the government through its agencies such as the Narcotics Control Board, Ghana Education Service and the police.