MEDIA BLAMED FOR PROLIFERATION OF ILLICIT DRUGS

The Ashanti Regional Zonal officer of the Food and drugs Board (FDB), Mr.
P.K. Agyemang-Duah, has blamed the electronic media for the proliferation
of unwholesome drugs on the Ghanaian market.

According to him, the various electronic media houses have perpetually
refused to comply with the laws governing drug advertisements and continue
to advertise various kinds of illicit drugs.

Agyemang-Duah explained to The Chronicle in an interview that media houses
are required by law to get clearance from the FDB before advertising a
particular drug, adding that jingles of such adverts have to also be vetted
and approved by the Board before they are played on air.

"Before we recommend any drug for advertisement, we would have taken it
through the necessary laboratory examination to ascertain its efficacy and
possible effects on the potential users so that the necessary
recommendations are made to both the manufacturer and use to make it very
wholesome," the Zonal officer emphasized.

He described the defiance of the drug advertisement law by the electronic
media as an act that poses a severe health threat to numerous Ghanaians
since, according to him, most of the herbal concoctions that are being
promoted by the media as being very effective for the treatment of various
ailments will surely have a long term health effects on their users.

The FDB officer further noted that the problem of drug abuse has been on
the ascending largely due to the inviting language used by most radio
presenters to advertise the illicit drugs.

A lot of Ghanaians especially the rural folk, he observed, are normally
deceived by promotions on radio, to go in for assorted concoctions when
they are not even sick, asking, " how do we check drug abuse in this
difficult situation?"

Agyemang-Duah advised personnel in the electronic media not to allow
themselves to be taken away by their desire for money and expose
unsuspecting Ghanaians to a lot of health hazards.

He further appealed to the National Media Commission to compel all media
houses to comply with drug-related laws since. As he said, the media has a
vital role to play in ensuring good health for Ghanaians.

This, according to him, will help to ensure that drugs that have been
approved by the FDB are the only ones that are advertised for public patronage.

Agyemang-Duah also announced that the FDB would soon come out with
stringent measures to check the proliferation of illicit drugs on the
Ghanaian market and hinted that media houses that are found to be promoting
such drugs would also be dealt with according to the laws of the land.