Minister for Youth Development and Empowerment, George Opare Addo, has said new findings show disturbing levels of drug use on university and college campuses.
Speaking at a JoyNews dialogue on Thursday, August 28, themed “Breaking the Chains: Ghana’s Opioid Crisis”, Mr Opare Addo said, “Codeine and cough syrups stand at 28%. And then you will be amazed to know that 12% of our university and tertiary students are abusing cocaine and 11% heroin.”
According to him, weed edibles are the most widely used, with 59% of respondents admitting to consumption.
He added that shisha and hookah, often mixed with other substances, account for 49%, while 41% of students abuse prescription drugs.
Mr Opare Addo expressed concern about students increasingly experimenting with expensive hard drugs.
“I know cocaine is expensive, I know heroin is expensive, and we even drilled down to the various institutions,” he revealed.
He noted that the extent of drug abuse varies across schools.
“The nursing health institutions don’t do a lot of abuse. Reasons are that they still operate some form of military regime in the schools, like you need permission to go out. But the worst abusers are the universities,” he said.
The minister further described universities as “epicentres” of the drug crisis, stressing that these drugs are often sold openly during hall week celebrations and festive occasions on campus.