1,200 students treated for drugs

About 1,200 students reported for treatment at the Ankaful Psychiatric Hospital with drug-related problems last year.

The number constitutes about two-thirds of drug-related mental cases seen at the hospital during the year. The main drug found to have been abused by the students is marijuana, which they did mostly through smoking. A few others, however, used it as a beverage.

The Medical Director in Charge of the hospital, Dr. Akwasi Osei, who disclosed this in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said the situation has been perpetrated by the easy availability of the drug in recent times. Dr Osei said the hospital has also had cases in which children, as young as 12 years, have been found to abuse hard drugs.

He said this means that the average age of drug abuse in the country, which stood at 16 years, is dropping, adding that the situation could worsen in the near future if urgent measures are not taken to check it. He said for every patient treated for drug addiction, there could be about 20 more of such patients in the communities. He added that the fact that most of the victims are aged between 16 and 44 makes the problem of drug abuse a threat to the economy.

He stressed the need to improve surveillance on travellers to check the smuggling of drugs into the country and called for stiffer penalties for drug peddlers to serve as a deterrent. Dr Osei said the hospital sometimes organises educational campaigns for schools and churches to educate students and members on the negative effects of drug abuse but admitted that this has not been done effectively due to inadequate medical staff.