By Albert Allotey
Accra, July 7, GNA – The Vision for Accelerated Sustainable Development, Ghana, (VAST-Ghana) in partnership with the NCD Alliance Ghana has called on government to strengthen investment response to the prevention of the growing drug and substances abuse in the country.
The two-health advocate civil society organisations made the call in a joint statement signed by Mr Labram Musah, the Executive Director of VAST-Ghana as they marked the 2026 International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking (World Drugs Day).
The Day was on the theme, “The World Drug Problem: Persisting Issues, New Challenges, Innovative Responses.”
They said in Ghana Government’s bid to respond to substances abuse challenges should be a sustained investment in prevention, education, enforcement, and youth empowerment.
The statement noted that drug abuse in Ghana is no longer limited to illicit substances, rather young people are increasingly exposed to a wide range of addictive products, such as tramadol, and marijuana.
The rest are cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, tobacco, alcohol, electronic nicotine delivery systems, and the misuse of prescription medicines and household substances.
It said these substances differ in their legal status and patterns of use, but they share devastating consequences and threaten health, undermine educational achievement, weaken families, and reduce the social and economic potential of the country’s future workforce.
The statement pointed out that across communities, schools, and social media platforms, young people are being exposed to substances that promise temporary relief, social acceptance, or improved performance while concealing the risks of dependence, poor mental health, violence, injury, and long-term disease.
It stated that drug abuse is therefore not only a law enforcement concern, but has become a health, education, social protection, human right and national development challenge that demands coordinated action across government and society.
It said more importantly, since young people spend the greater part of their day in school, prevention must be anchored within the education system.
“School counsellors should be trained to identify and respond to early signs of substance use, working closely with the Ghana Education Service’s school health education programme,” the statement said.
It added that civil society organizations and community leaders must also be equipped and trained to deliver evidence-based prevention education, identify young people at risk, strengthen community surveillance, support referrals to appropriate services, and reinforce local accountability.
“This must be matched by deliberate efforts to close the youth unemployment gap, since idle and economically excluded young people remain the most vulnerable to recruitment into substance use and trafficking,” it stated.
It said the government must adopt and implement drug awareness and enforcement strategies using the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) as a model, while protecting policy processes from industry interference.
“The true measure of our response to drug abuse is not how many lives we punish, but how many lives we protect and help reclaim their potential. Behind every statistic is a human story that deserves empathy, not judgment,” it pointed out.
Mr Winston Deladem Gamor, Youth Advocates with VAST-Ghana in his contribution said, “When we choose prevention, compassion, and evidence-based action, we do more than reduce drug use.
“We restore hope and strengthen the future of our communities. Ghana cannot tackle its drug problem by focusing only on substances sold in the shadows, nor by ignoring those sold openly on every street corner,” he said.
He added, “Whether it is tramadol, marijuana, shisha, tobacco or alcohol, our children are being targeted in schools, communities and online. World Drug Day must prompt us to be honest about the scale of this problem and deliberate in our response.”
Mr Musah on his part said. “We need stronger enforcement, better-equipped schools and communities, and the political will to protect our young people.”
He stated that the global theme affirms that the drug problem is persistent, evolving, and in need of innovative responses and that for Ghana, innovation must go beyond policing and surveillance.
“It must encompass smarter fiscal policies, stronger regulatory systems, community-driven prevention, and accountability for corporations that profit from addiction,” he said, adding that, “The WHO FCTC frameworks exist; what remains is the political will to implement them on a scale, fund them adequately, and shield them from industry interference.”
He said on this World Drug Day, VAST-Ghana has renewed its commitment and urged policymakers, regulators, civil society, health professionals, educators, parents, and communities to move beyond words, to act boldly, invest in prevention, protect young people, and place public health above commercial interests. The health of Ghana’s future generations depends on it.”
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Odeng Adade