African governments have been advised to adopt a multi-faceted approach to dealing with the menace of drugs across the West African sub-region. Former Nigerian President and Chairman of the West Africa Commission on Drugs, Olusegun Obasanjo made this remark when the Commission paid a courtesy call on Vice President Amissah-Arthur at the Flagstaff House, Accra.
President Olusegun Obasanjo believes that African governments should take a critical look at legal and medical as well as social approach in addressing the problem of drug trafficking and its usage within the sub-region.
In a similar remark, the leader of the delegation, Justice Bankole Thompson, said the current legal system where consumers and traffickers are punished on equal measure creates a humanistic problem which tends to affect the future of young consumers of the drugs.
The Vice President Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur for his part commended the Commission for the work they are doing and says he looks forward to the findings and recommendations which the Commission will finalize soon.
He said countries in the sub-region must intensify efforts at mobilizing national resources in dealing with the challenges posed by illicit drugs and its usage.
The West Africa Commission on Drugs is presently travelling across the sub-region mobilizing public awareness and political commitment as well as develop evidence-based policy recommendations on how to address drug trafficking and dependency, and to promote local and regional capacities to deal with drug trafficking and dependency issues.