By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
The Public Relations Officer of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Ibrahim Kargbo has cited the lack of the necessary devices to detect drugs being trafficked into the country through the porous borders and other means as a challenge to the agency’s effectiveness.
However, he said their presence is at some strategic locations “Even though we do not have those detecting gadgets, our presence is visible at Water Quay, Gbalamuya crossing border and the airport. We also have a strong collaboration with the Sierra Leone Police to help us apprehend drug smugglers,’’ he said.
Kargbo said they will continue to raise awareness not only in communities but also in schools and train people that will be disseminating the messages.
He added that they have trained club educators to sensitize people in drug-prone communities, noting that they had also trained people that are dealing with drug users. He spoke about a five-year strategic plan to address drug abuse and trafficking not only within Sierra Leone but the sub-region at large.
‘’We have been given the powers by parliament because the Act makes provision for police to arrest, seize and prosecute drug dealers,’’ he said.
The PRO noted that they are yet to conduct a survey to ascertain the types of drugs in the country, but since they have been in partnership with the Sierra Leone Psychiatric Hospital in Kissy, he can confirm that the ages 15 to 19 are the most vulnerable in terms of drug use. ‘’The most commonly used drugs in the country are marijuana, cocaine, heroin, Kush, tramadol to name but a few,’’ he said.
He concluded by advising young people against seeing drugs as the answer to whatever problems they may have, noting that young people normally engage in drugs because of peer group influence. ‘’When once someone has been addicted to drugs, it would be difficult to stop’’, he advised.
Despite the challenges, he is confident that they will succeed in making drug abuse unattractive to young people.
“Drug circulation in the country is a war we are going to win, that is why ECOWAS has supported us with forty beds at the Kissy Psychiatric Hospital for people that are having drug issues to be rehabilitated,’’ he said. Verdict
The Minister of Youth Affairs, Mohamed ‘Orman’ Bangura told Politico last week that their strategy in the fight against drug abuse and trafficking is unique in the sub-region as it is geared towards ignoring the end-users and going after the drug lords. He said they have seized some containers with drugs a couple of weeks ago as a result of that strategy. ‘’So we are making tremendous progress that no country within the Mano River Union has done in terms of curtailing drug circulation. It is only in Sierra Leone you can see they arrest containers of drugs within the sub-region, ‘’ he said.
The Minister noted that most times young people are addicted to drugs, but said he has always advised them to focus on themselves. ‘’Today if you check the cost of ‘tramadol’ it is about twenty-two thousand Leones, for a small quantity of ‘Kush’, it is about five thousand Leones to ten thousand Leones,’’ he said.
He expressed fear that certainly infected cocaine which he heard about on the BBC radio does not infiltrate the country.
But said they will continue to press on with their strategies ‘’It is just about reinforcing the effort that we are making and knowing very well that young people are very resilient ranging from war, mudslide and Ebola. They have lost a whole lot of opportunities because they think they cannot make it.’’ He noted that young people still have a second chance under the current government and leadership of President Julius Maada Bio.
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