Govt promotes alternative farming for wee growers

The Deputy Minister of the Interior, Thomas Broni, has said that the Narcotics Control Board is undertaking a programme whereby marijuana farmers would be helped financially to shift from cultivating marijuana to planting useful crops.

Such a programme, he said could reduce the availability of marijuana, the main drug abused in the country and at the same time increase food production.

The Deputy Minister announced this at the launch of International Narcotics Control Board Report 2003, in Accra. He urged Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) and Faith Based Organisations like churches and Muslim groups to incorporate drug prevention programmes in their activities.

Thomas Broni noted that drug abuse does not limit itself to heinous crimes in our society, observing that almost all the crimes that threaten life may be directly or indirectly linked to drugs.

The Deputy Minister Commended the Narcotics Control Board for the good work it is doing with the little resources at its disposal.