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Eleven students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), mostly Nigerians, have been arrested for narcotics related crimes since January, this year in the Ashanti Region.
They were part of 162 people arrested for using, supplying, possessing and trading in cocaine and marijuana in the region.
ASP Jeremiah Alale, Ashanti Regional Narcotics Unit Commander, said 29 suspects were arrested for dealing in cocaine while the remaining openly traded and used marijuana.
Also among the drug peddlers were 22 females who supplied and used illicit drugs at drinking spots and ‘chop’ bars in the Kumasi metropolis.
The police chief disclosed this while speaking in an interview with DAILY GUIDE after a sensitisation programme on narcotics at the St. Louis Senior High School in Kumasi.
The programme, an initiative of the unit command, is to tackle the abuse of narcotics among students in the second cycle institutions.
ASP Alale called on students to desist from engaging in the use and sale of narcotics and instead concentrate on their education, as the consequences of such activities could be inimical.
According to him, apart from the jail term, the user becomes addicted to narcotics.
He intimated that revelations from the many students arrested by police indicated that they got involved in drugs at the Junior High School and Senior High School levels.
This, the Narcotic Unit Commander said, encouraged his outfit to initiate the programme to deal with the social canker as part of proactive policing methods adopted by the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, DCOP Nathan Kofi Boakye.
‘Wee biscuits and toffees’
He admonished the students to be on the lookout since biscuits, toffees and shito made of marijuana were rife on the market.
“A man was taken ill and rushed to hospital after eating biscuits made of wee. That is the extent of abuse of narcotics in the country so beware,” he stated.
He challenged students to be agents of change both in their schools and communities by denouncing the use of narcotics and working with authorities to arrest drug dealers, especially those that target the youth and students in particular.
ASP Alale urged teachers of the country’s educational institutions to constantly monitor students’ behaviour in order to notice changes.
He praised authorities at the KNUST for their cooperation in the fight against the use of narcotics among students.
Victoria Usher, Assistant Headmistress of St. Louis Senior High School, on her part, commended the police for instituting such a programme.
Source: Daily Guide
