Mr Jonathan Osei Owusu, Executive Director of POS Foundation speaks at the workshop
The Executive Director of Perfector of Sentiments (POS) Foundation, Jonathan Osei Owusu, has noted that the best form of help that can be given to illicit drug users is to provide treatment facilities such as rehabilitation centers for them, and not jail sentences.
According to Mr Owusu, when non-violent drug users are sentenced to prison, they form an association with hardened criminals such as adulterers and armed robbers, which worsens their situation. He added that the hardened criminals influence them to also engage in such violent acts.
Speaking over the weekend at a day’s consultation workshop in Koforidua with the media on ensuring the effect implementation of the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019), Mr Owusu said drug users should be factored as a public health issue.
Best practices
The workshop was on the theme “Understanding the Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020(Act 1019): the role of the media in health and rights-based best practices to handling people who use drugs in the implementation Act”.
“Today, we are engaging the media because if the media understand the Act, the Act will travel far, and people will understand it more. It is also important to sensitize critical stakeholders, particularly reporters, to know their role in its delivery while consulting them on the best practices in the implementation process,” he said.
“When the Act was passed by Parliament, people said marijuana had been legalized. But that’s not the case; the use of it has been decriminalized, and its prison sentences soften and alternated,” Mr Owusu said.
The Eastern Regional Minister, Seth Kwame Acheampong, urged the media to ensure that they communicate and break down the Act to the general public for them to understand it very well. He added that the media are in the better position to help in education the public about the Act.
The Minister said the media have a vital role to play in sensitizing the public on the stipulations of the Act and the need to ensure that they fully understand its proper implementation within the spirit that was intended.
The Eastern Regional Commander of Narcotics Control Commission, Felix Sarfo Yeboah, said it is about time society appreciated that drug addiction is a disease, and, therefore, the best treatment that can be given to such persons is to provide rehabilitation centers to help them overcome the addiction
“This Foundation is doing very well to get the attention of policymakers and stakeholders, but more needs to be done. There are some good things provided in the Act such as the rehabilitation fund, a fund that must be established to finance rehabilitation centers in the country. The rehabilitation centre is the best way to help drug users,” he added.
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