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.