Rev. Dr. Lawson Kwaku Dzanku, Clerk of the General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana (EPCG) Thursday stated that the increasing cases of drug abuse among the youth should be seen as a national crisis that needed to be treated with emergency.
He said it was therefore incumbent on the church and society to collaborate with government to minimise this canker among the youth.
Rev. Dr. Dzanku stated this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Ho, in response to the alleged rise of drug abuse cases among the youth in the country.
He said the issue of drug misuse was quite a challenge to the youth of this generation and that if a collaborative effort was not taken the country would lose the next generation.
“We are on the brink of losing our future country, community and family leaders as well as parents if we do not treat the issue as an emergency,” he stated.
Togbe Tepre Hodo IV, President of the Volta Region House of Chiefs during a recent meeting of the House on July 18, 202 5, raised concerns over the rise of drug abuse cases among the youth in the country.
He noted that the passage of the Narcotic Control Commission Act which allowed the cultivation of a specific species of cannabis for medicinal purposes has been widely misunderstood and being used for recreational purposes.
Rev. Dr. Dzanku stated that some of the youth picked up and practiced this bad habit whilst in school at the blind side of their teachers and encouraged their peers also to do so.
“These things are practiced on campuses and unfortunately even though teachers try their best to curb the menace they mostly fail in their endeavours as it is still done on their blind side,” he noted.
The Clerk said such students influenced their colleagues to do mischief and caused trouble in school adding that some of them grew up with these unacceptable behaviours out of school and joined gangs in their communities to perpetuate evil.
He said: “Their presence pose a threat to people because they are not able to control their behaviours to conform to society.
“It is worrying to see young men and women who are potential community and Church leaders, responsible family men and women walking naked on the streets or languishing in jail because of drugs.”
Rev. Dr. Dzanku stated that the EPCG would continue to support teachers and collaborate with other stakeholders in the fight against drug abuse in schools and communities.
“As a Church we are equally ready to provide every support to our community leaders to smoke out these deviants amongst the people in the communities in which they live,” he assured.
Rev. Dr. Dzanku advised the youth to shy away from drugs as it would only destroy their God-given potentials and advised those who were addicted to it to seek counselling.
GNA