Pubdate: Mon, 03 Mar 2008 Source: Public Agenda (Ghana) Copyright: 2008 Public Agenda Contact: http://www.ghanaweb.com/public_agenda/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4713 Author: Selorm Amevor MORE LAWS NEEDED TO TACKLE DRUG ABUSE The Director of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Dr Akwasi Osei, has called on Parliament and other stakeholders to pass more stringent laws to curb the drug menace in the country. According to him most of the laws on drugs in the country mainly deal with hard drugs such as cocaine, marijuana and heroine even though there are equally dangerous substances being used by people in the country. Dr Osei said this in an interview when he presented a paper on the topic; "Substance Abuse-Understanding it's Dangers" at the monthly Health Talk organized by the Ghana Health Service in Accra last Thursday. According to him the time has come for parliament to express extreme interest in issues relating to bills that will help the country fight drug abuse which is slowly killing the human resource base of the country. "It is time for our parliamentarians to also make proactive moves to ensure that a bill such as the Tobacco Bill is brought before them for passage into law," he said. Furthermore he called on the government to provide the logistics to enable authorities enforce existing laws since most institutions responsible for enforcing the laws complain of unavailability of logistics to embark on their operations. According to him it was unfortunate that some health practitioners are also involved in encouraging people to get involved in drug abuse. Dr. Osei said "Some Pharmacist even sell drugs that are not supposed to be sold over the counter to people without prescription from a qualified doctor." He said, "Drug abuse is one of the world's current major headaches and as Ghana prepares to be middle income by 2015, these problems assume greater importance." The Director was of the opinion that for the country to maintain its bright future it is prudent for the youth and workforce to stay away from drugs. Dr. Osei revealed that aside the well known drugs such as cocaine, marijuana and heroin many Ghanaians also abuse other drugs which have equal negative effects on them. These drugs include valium, Phenobarb, Pethidine, Sosegun, Amphetamine, Tobacco, petroleum products and Alcohol. He said out of 2,939 admissions to the Accra Psychiatric Hospital in 2007, 594 were drug related cases which was 20.2 per cent of all admissions with cannabis and alcohol being the most abused drugs. In 2007, the age groups of 21 years to 40 years were in the majority of those admitted to the hospital for drug use. He said some of the social and economic effects of substance abuse were high crime wave, high accident rate, low productivity, unemployment, violence and other social vices as they were happening in the country today adding; "Ghana cannot afford to spend its oil money on treating avoidable conditions." He revealed that research conducted in 2000 across the world showed that drug or substance abused contributed to over 31 percent of deaths in developed countries, 16 percent in emerging countries and 4 percent in developing countries. He noted that drug abuse can lead to cancers of the body, infertility in both men and women, low birth weight in children, hypertension and liver diseases, epilepsy and death before the age of 45 years. Furthermore it affects the impaired judgment of people, poor motor coordination, social withdrawal, lack of drive to prosper and also poor memory. Dr Osei said it was far easier to avoid the first drink or smoke than to avoid second and subsequent ones. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom