Accra, Feb. 24, GNA - Mr. Martin Amidu, Minister of the Interior, on Wednesday said Government was committed to changing the status of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) to an independent body.

He said a review of the law for the change was being undertaken for the Commission to operate efficiently and effectively.

Mr. Amidu announced said these in a speech read for him by Madam Naana Ampratwum, Chief Director of the Ministry, at the launch of the 149-paged annual report of the International Narcotic Control Board (INCB) in Accra. He pledged that government would tackle the drug menace, saying, 'We will take all the necessary measures to deal with this daunting challenge which faces all of us".

The report released in Vienna, Austria contained an analysis of the drug control situation worldwide to make governments aware of existing and potential situation that might endanger the objective of the international control treaties.

Mr. Amidu said there was a good reason for society to give concerted attention to preventing drug abuse since serious consequences such as injury or overdose could occur, stressing the need to increase law enforcement capacity, extend social welfare and health care. He expressed worry that said the report indicated that the rate of drug abuse was higher among teenagers and young adults.

Mr. Amidu said the report said that there was increasing spate of young first time users and any young person who had not begun using drugs by the end of his/her adolescent years, was not likely to begin at all. He said the report recognized that government's effort alone would not suffice and stressed the need for collaboration with NGOs and other international agencies in the fight against narcotics abuse. Mr. Amidu appealed to the international collaborators to assist Ghana in procuring baggage scanners and other easy-to-use gadgets and equipment to facilitate Ghana's effort at combating illicit drugs. Captain Baffour Assasie-Gyimah (Rtd), Chairman of NACOB Governing Board, said it had resolved to "save young students both in secondary and tertiary institutions from the debilitating effects of illicit drug use because the unofficial statistics of drug abuse among the youth in these institutions was staggering.

"Our simple message to the youth is that, if you have not been lured into drug use at all, please make a covenant with yourself, never to try it. Even if you have tried it before, or you are still in it, remember that all is not lost; there is always help around the corner. Many have been helped and you can also be helped".

Capt. Assasie-Gyimah said NACOB was collaborating with the Council of Heads of Assisted Senior High Schools to enhance the peer counseling groups in schools to engage students in counseling their own peers who might be drifting in matters of school discipline as well as might fall prey to drug abuse. He assured INCB that Ghana had already mapped out strategies to deal effectively with the drug menace that had become a global struggle. 24 Feb. 10