By Sorie Ibrahim Fofanah
Over 85% of college students are using illegal drug substances like Kush, Tramadol, and Ecstasy among others, said the Students’ Union President of Fourah Bay College (FBC), Alfred M. Sesay, expressing his taught in a press conference organized by the National Union of Sierra Leone Students (NUSS) on 4th of April this year, in which they discussed solutions on how to combat Kush and other harmful substances.
The SU President went ahead to state “We, the students, that are supposed to educate other people are the ones that are abusing drugs.”
As a recommendation to address Kush, he suggested that students take responsibility and be at the forefront in the fight against the harmful drug, calling on students’ leaders to go out and speak on the said issue at ghettoes and other areas of marketing.
“Kush has become an alarming thing,” the SU President of the Milton Margai Technical University (MMTU), Abdul Malik Sawaneh said, but that there are other dangerous substances, which he added are affecting the lives of youth.
Highlighting the cause of Kush smoking, Sawaneh maintained that peer group influence is one of the driving forces of many youth indulging in the act, recommending that the Ministry of Higher Education and the Youth Ministry should find solutions to end the menace.
According to him, they should start the sensitization from primary schools, junior schools, and senior secondary schools, and community leaders should be involved as well.
Speaking about the rate of the consumption of drugs, Ibrahim Tunkara, the Secretary General of the Institute of Public Administration and Management labeled it as appalling and devastating, calling on the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) to intensify their raids on the Kush importers and retailers.
One of the guest speakers, Mohamed Jaward Nyallay applauded the union for organizing such an event to discuss the ways to combat Kush, saying drug abuse and other substance abuse are becoming “more” of a culture, emphasizing, “It’s becoming part of our social culture.”
Peer pressure in universities and other social clubs, he added is a “very” strong factor in involving youth in smoking Kush. “It’s only down to our individual responsibility to take charge of our own lives,” he further stated.
He therefore suggested that the fight against Kush should not be a one-way approach but rather a multifaceted means, saying young people are finding “more” inventive illegal drug substances like Moli, and ecstasy, among others. “These are the next pandemic that we should be watching out for,” he said, calling on authorities to be cautious of them.
Copyright (c) Politico Online (05/04/24)
