'Narcotic Drugs will damage your brains' - Pastor tells pupils

Pastor Richard Armah, a resource person from "Frontliners Against Illicit Drugs(FAID)" a local NGO, on Wednesday warned pupils and students not to experiment with any of the narcotic drugs since it will have a debilitating and destructive effect on their health.

Pastor Armah was speaking during a Drug Abuse educational campaign mounted at the Queen of Peace Catholic Basic School premises in Madina.

Commenting on Cocaine which he referred to as a stimulant, and Heroin as a depressant drug, he said initially students who indulged in those illicit drugs often realized that they became anti-social. He emphasized that some of the drugs destroyed the liver and, therefore, cautioned all students to refrain from tasting Heroin, Alcohol, Indian Hemp and Cocaine.

He added that students who tried those illicit drugs would be gradually lured permanently into addiction and would never be able to stop.

He reminded the students that whenever one was addicted, one will always think of getting more drugs daily, which will finally send them in the Mental Hospital for life.

Pastor Armarh warned the pupils that using illicit drugs will shrink their brains and they would not be able to study. He also mentioned the disastrous effect it had on famous musicians, like Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston, among others, who seriously took to drugs to perform on stage but the drugs finally shortened their life span.

Pastor Armah said in his speech that illicit drugs prevented the addicted person from getting more calcium into their bodies and as a result those addicts often broke their bones. He said footballers who often took illicit drugs before playing often broke their legs.

On smoking, he showed films on how smoking had destroyed people, with cancer in all their important organs and on their bodies.

During question time, some of the pupils asked whether taking alcohol before meals was a good thing. Pastor Armah warned them to refrain from that practice since it made those who practiced that habit to become addicted to alcohol. Pastor Armah also warned all Ghanaian parents to refrain from giving bits of alcohol to their children since this practice will make them to start drinking when they grew up.

In an interview with the GNA, Pastor Richard Armah said he was authorised by the Director of the Ga-East Municipal Education Unit to give talks on Drug Abuse Education to all the 120 Basic Junior High Schools in the Ga-East Municipality.

After the anti-drug educational session, Pastor Armah presented Visual Aids to the Queen of Peace Basic School for use in their classrooms.**