The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference has raised concerns over the growing use of drugs among young people in communities across the country, calling for a comprehensive national response combining prevention, enforcement and rehabilitation.
The President of the Conference, Most Rev. Matthew Gyamfi, said the country’s attention should not be focused solely on international drug trafficking while the increasing availability and use of narcotics within local communities continued to threaten the youth.
Speaking on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Tuesday, September 22, he said the Church was increasingly encountering young people affected by drug use.
“Now drugs are also working slowly but persistently to also destroy our youthful population,” he said.
Most Rev. Gyamfi called for stronger measures to restrict the availability of substances such as marijuana and other drugs, including tougher action against those who sell them.
He said efforts to combat international drug trafficking should be matched with measures to prevent drugs from becoming easily accessible within Ghanaian communities.
“So, as we are fighting the international, we expect that this body, the government is also in place, to also be able to clear our shelves,” he said.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference also linked drug abuse among young people to wider socioeconomic challenges, including unemployment, vulnerability and limited opportunities.
Most Rev. Gyamfi said some young people could turn to drugs because of social pressures and feelings of hopelessness, particularly when they saw limited prospects for their future.
“There is unemployment. There is this. We feel that there is no future. You need some iota of happiness. And you think that you have to take this to get that,” he said.
He therefore advocated a multi-pronged approach involving public education, counselling, rehabilitation, enforcement and moral formation, rather than relying solely on punishment.
“We need formation of conscience. We need structures. We need enforcement. We need all of this,” he said.
As part of its response, the Catholic Church plans to intensify drug-awareness education and counselling through its institutions and youth structures.
Most Rev. Gyamfi said Catholic youth representatives from across West Africa recently met in Accra, where drug abuse was among the issues discussed.
He said the Church would expand awareness and counselling programmes for young people and personnel within Catholic institutions, including hospitals, nursing colleges and colleges of education.
He acknowledged, however, that the Church lacked the resources and legal authority available to the state to enforce anti-drug measures.
“We can go only so far,” he said. “We do not have the resources like the government has to put in place physical enforcement.”
He stressed that appeals to individual conscience alone would not be sufficient without effective state structures and enforcement mechanisms.
“Just appealing to conscience alone is not enough,” he said.
Most Rev. Gyamfi compared the threat posed by drug abuse to the damage caused by illegal mining, saying both could have serious long-term consequences for the country.
“This is very similar to galamsey. It is very, very similar. Galamsey is destroying our nation. Now drugs are also working slowly but persistently to also destroy our youthful population,” he said.
His comments come amid renewed scrutiny of Ghana’s efforts to combat narcotics trafficking following the seizure in France of a major cocaine consignment allegedly linked to Ghana.
The Bishops’ Conference said it would continue using its presence in communities to educate young people about the dangers of drug abuse while urging the government to treat the issue as an urgent national concern.
