Minister of Youth Development and Empowerment, George Opare Addo has made an urgent call to all academic institutions in Ghana to increase attention given to drug abuse and the measures taken to prevent it in the respective centers of study.
The Minister, while speaking at the historic State of the Youth Address (SOYA) held at the Ministry of Labour on Wednesday, gave a data backed presentation of the Ghanaian youth and the alarming rate of drug abuse within this sect between the ages of 15-years-old to 35-years-old.
Mr. Addo indicated that the drug abuse in tertiary institutions is being battled by a pacing 36% through counselling, peer support, drug awareness programs, random checks and referrals.
However, these efforts were touted by the Minister as “adequately inadequate” and needs more effort and the necessary funding that will aid efforts and its expansion to a wider population of the youth. “If all that is available on our campuses is 36% then collectively as a country we must begin to look at our educational institutions critically because a lot of young people at that stage of their lives are in school that is when we need to support more counselling services to support what they are doing.”
