By Agnes Ansah
Accra, Oct. 12, GNA – Government is preparing a Cabinet memorandum to make drug testing mandatory for public service recruitment to curb substance abuse, the Interior Minister, Mr Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, has said.
The policy would initially cover public service applicants, with plans to extend it to the private sector if Cabinet approves.
Mr Muntaka announced this on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, monitored by the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Monday. He cited concerns over cannabis use and the disqualification of more than 6,000 applicants during the recent security services recruitment exercise.
”Very soon it will become mandatory that you have to do a drug test if you have to get employment into the public service.
”If Cabinet passes this into law, we will want to extend it to the private sector so that people will know that if you do drugs, you will be risking your chances of getting employment. Maybe that could serve as a deterrent,” he explained.
The Minister said more than 6,000 applicants failed the drug tests during the recruitment exercise.
”We were alarmed during the security services recruitment about the number of persons we had to disqualify because they failed the drug test. We disqualified over 6,000 people due to drugs,” he said.
Mr Muntaka said drug abuse was also a concern among serving security personnel. This had prompted the introduction of drug and mental health screening in recruitment procedures.
”We also have people within the security services who are struggling with drug abuse. The reason is because the medicals they were doing in the past did not include mental health and drug test,” he said.
Previous recruitment exercises, he said, did not include drug and mental health tests.
The Minister expressed concern about reports that some Senior High School students were smuggling drugs into schools to sell to their colleagues.
He said cannabis cultivation in some communities was inadequately monitored. He also raised concerns about the alleged use of ambulances and bullion vans to transport the substance.
Mr Muntaka said the government was intensifying enforcement against illegal drug activities. Measures included destroying illicit cannabis farms and arresting persons suspected of involvement.
He said public education on drug abuse was being intensified in basic and secondary schools, churches, mosques and organised groups.
The government also planned to establish a state-owned narcotics rehabilitation centre to complement existing private facilities.
Mr Muntaka urged interested persons to apply for licences to cultivate and trade in industrial cannabis.
He said regulated production would help the government control the sector and curb illegal activities.
Ghana’s cannabis regulatory framework includes the Narcotics Control Commission (Amendment) Act, 2023 (Act 1100), and the Narcotics Control Commission Regulations, 2023 (L.I. 2475).
These provide for licensed cultivation of cannabis containing not more than 0.3 per cent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) for industrial and medicinal purposes.
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Sackey
Reporter: Agnes Ansah
Email: [email protected]