Students for Liberty holds symposium on 'Ending the Drug War'

The Students for Liberty (SFL), in collaboration with the Political Science Students Association (POSSA) of the SDD University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (UBIDS), has held a symposium on winning the war against the misuse, distribution, and trade of drugs and substances.

SFL is an international libertarian organisation with the mission of educating, developing, and empowering the next generation of leaders of liberty.

The symposium, held at the SDD UBIDS campus, brought together students and youth advocates to discuss the theme, "End the Drug War."

The Local Coordinator of SFL Ghana, Abdul Naeem Muniru, said the subject of the drug war was delicate as it was variously debated across the globe, which students and young people needed to be made aware of to help make informed judgments regarding the subject.

He said the subject was widely debated due to its diverse political dimensions, including racial factors and discriminatory tendencies.

"It has different political dimensions, and talking about political dimensions, we have people who are saying that we should ban the drug war, and others are also saying that we should take on drugs, but they should be minimized or controlled in a certain way," he said.

Mr. Muniru indicated that the discussion was important to the SFL because the drug war had traces of history in which people's rights and liberties had been violated.

"It's something that has happened in history where we had a lot of racism and a lot of issues that have to do with people's rights and liberties being curtailed.

"Two people who have engaged in drug issues would be arrested, and you see that one would be sentenced to two years [imprisonment] while the other is sentenced to ten years," Mr. Muniru noted.

He explained that the symposium featured a video documentary on the war on drugs and a debate session, which helped the students digest the complexities and diverse perspectives surrounding the subject.

The President of the Students' Representative Council (SRC), SDD UBIDS, Hafiz Iddrisu Okoro, described the symposium as impactful, saying that the documentary and the contributions made by participants made the session a transformational one.

He intimated that even though drugs contribute significantly to the health needs of human beings, the negative aspects of them should not be overlooked.

He, therefore, opined that it would be best if control measures were kept in place to regulate the use of drugs and substances to curtail their abuse and harm.

He admonished the student body to avoid the abuse of drugs, saying that it was injurious to their health and could affect their academic activities.

Ida Adiyone Alira, a level 300 political science student who participated in the symposium, added that the misuse of drugs has dire consequences for the life of an individual, including the risk of being jailed, losing one's memory, and causing organ damage.

She also urged people to be responsible in the usage of drugs.