The Perfector of Sentiments (POS) foundation has conducted a 1-day media training workshop on Narcotics Control Commission Act, 2020.
The workshop which was held at Capital View Hotel in the Eastern Regional capital, Koforidua, on Friday, July 29, was under 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 of the Act.
The purpose of the workshop was to provide enlightening education for the media on health and rights-based best practices for handling people who use drugs in the implementation of the Act.
Giving a welcoming address, the Chairman for the occasion, Nana Twumasi Dankwa, the Gyasehene of New Juaben Traditional Council admonished the power of media and its influence on the state.
He stressed that the basic role of the media is to educate and in entertaining. The media strikes social realities thus what the media says is what society takes as the gospel truth. He decries the fact that most people are unaware that there is a law on Narcotics usage in Ghana and, surely they do not know in-connection about the content of the Narcotics Control Commission Law. He touched on the fact that a lot of people tell lies and information about developing and producing the use of Narcotics.
Subsequently, many people do not know much about their rights as enshrined in the Narcotics Act or law. It was these same shortfalls, that the media, perhaps, may need to rise in educating the public on Narcotics usage control.
Eastern Regional Commander of the Narcotics Control Commission, Mr Felix Sarfo Yeboah expressed his sincere appreciation to the POS foundation and its partner institutions for the organization of the workshop. He noted that the POS has fought a good fight to get the attention of policymakers to appreciate addiction as a public health issue. He commended the foundation for its quest to ensure that people with substance abuse disorders are not incarcerated.
Mr Felix Sarfo further chastised the much misinformation that had been put into the public domain especially in the use and cultivation of Narcotics and cannabis since the coming into force of Act 1019 of the Narcotics Control Act 2020.
On his part, the Eastern Regional Minister, Hon. Seth Kwame Acheampong entreated the media o to conduct an extensive education on the Narcotics Control Commission Act and Public health education on Narcotics usage.
The Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020 (Act 1019) was chaired and led to the passage of the bill when the Regional minister was the chairman of the Interior Committee of Parliament.
Mr Acheampong called for more attention to be given to public health issues. In that regard, he called for more rehab and public health centres to be created to contain these issues.
The Chief Executive Officer of the POS foundation, Jonathan Osei Owusu spoke on inmates who have not been incarcerated but find themselves in prison. In his view, the prisons in the country have been overhauled and one of the things the foundation could have done was to initiate the #Justice4All program which seeks to look for appeal for persons who have been incarcerated for menial usage of drugs.
The POS foundation ideology is not to speak for the legalization of Narcotics or cannabis but the state should see drug use as a public health and human right matter rather it as a criminal. The POS is of the view that if anybody is apprehended for being in possession of marijuana, it does not expect to see the person being thrown into jail for years. Per the NDC law 236, the minimum a judge could give to a convict is 10 years and that’s why the ongoing reforms have ignited the POS to push for more education on Narcotics control.
The POS wants the masses to know that marijuana has not been legalized. Additionally, the use of Narcotics must be considered a public health threat as the law is trying to advocate.
The Narcotics Control Commission Act 2020, Act 1019 was passed on 20th March 2020 and assented by the President on 11th May 2020. The new law represents an important example for drug policy reform advocacy in West Africa. Historically, drug policies have been imported into the region and it is under this colonial legacy that the POS has seen drug production and trafficking skyrocket; which offers further evidence that ‘tough-on-drugs’ laws do not work.
Ghana’s new drug law seeks to treat drug use and dependence as a public health issue rather than focusing on law enforcement, incarceration, punishment and repression. The new law has converted the prison term for drug possession for personal use into a fine of between 200-300 penalty units (translating into Gh¢2,400 to ¢6000). It means that instead of sending people to prison for up to 10 years for simple possessions of drugs for personal use, they will offer alternatives to incarceration and criminalization.