The University of Ghana School of Law, in collaboration with the Open Society Global Drug Policy Programme and Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), has opened an Executive Course on Human Rights and Drug Policy.

The six-day West African course, which is the second of its kind to be held in Accra, is being attended by participants from Chad, Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire, Benin, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ghana, Senegal and The Gambia.

Dr Kwadwo Appiagyei-Atua, Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana School of Law and Course Coordinator, on Monday said in many countries around the world, drug control efforts results in serious human rights abuses, torture and ill treatment by police, mass incarceration, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention and denial of essential medicines and basic health services.

Drug control policies and accompanying enforcement practices, often entrench and exacerbate systematic discrimination against people who use drugs, driving people with serious health needs further underground, and also those who experience chronic pain or who are living with debilitating illnesses are unable to get essential medicines such as morphine because of excessive restrictions put in place to control opiate drugs, he said.

He said the course would look at issues such as existing steps in countries over the years to address the problem, discuss the prohibition approach, the medical and commercial benefits, and advocate for harm reduction in places of detention, compulsory drug treatment as well as human rights approaches to these issues among other things.

The focus, he said, would also be to discuss effective ways of addressing the illicit drug menace, which is currently assuming an alarming rise on the African continent.

He said it is believed that the adoption of a criminalized approach to fight the illicit drug menace has rather led to situations where users go underground to spread their influences and even diseases like HIV and AIDS, creating a much bigger health problem for governments to resolve.

Mr Mark Wayongo, the Minister of the Interior, in a speech read for him, said government has over the years pursued various programmes aimed at addressing the illicit drug menace to deter people from substance abuse.

However, there was some frustration attributed to the lack of sustained successes to curtail drug abuse due to the increase in the demand for cannabis, popularly called Marijuana, he said.

He said the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), has lived up to its task of developing interventions to enforce the drugs law and was currently spearheading a programme known as NACT 360, with communities which would engage law enforcement agencies and members of the community to fight against illicit drug abuse.

The goal of the NACT 360 programme was to promote awareness among parents and the youth of the dangers associated with drug abuse and also equip the youth with skills to resist the temptation to these practices, he said.

Mr Wayongo called for maximum support, especially by Civil Society Organisations and all other institutions and promised government’s commitment towards resolving the drug problem.

Mr Yaw Akrasi-Sarpong, Executive Secretary, of the Narcotics Control Board, on the other hand called for an open debate and an all-inclusive discussion with CSOs, to join in on-going global debates on the drug issue.

He challenged Africans to begin to ask the right questions, engage the right people in order to secure the right answers, and these could be done by reviewing existing drug policies and the objectives they sought to achieve.

He questioned the potency of existing Conventions, International Drug Treaties, as well as national Drug Policies in West African countries, indicating that, they have in various ways failed to accomplish their intended objective.

Mr Akrasi-Sarpong called for decriminalization of Cannabis Sativa, with an argument drawn along lines such as the consideration of the commercial benefits not only as a powerful medicinal plant, but for the production of various products including soap and cosmetics for export.

He said there was currently a growing recognition among the scientific community of better ways of addressing the drug issue rather than a total ban.

Mr Akrasi-Sarpong cited the immense benefits of the Hemp oil, the seed and other parts of the plant could be to African economies, if they were considered as such because already there were various approved beauty products, particularly hair products, being on the market which contain active ingredients from this plant and were being imported into the continent for use.

He condemned the act of stigmatizing people with substance use disorders and throwing them into jail, but suggested that such persons must be given public health attention and community assistance to help them overcome their challenges.