By Lawrence Odoom/Phalonzy
President John Dramani Mahama has sounded a grave alarm over escalating drug abuse among Ghana’s youth, cautioning that the scourge now imperils the social fabric and developmental trajectory of communities nationwide.
His intervention follows urgent appeals from traditional authorities in the Northern Region, who warn that rampant narcotics consumption particularly among young people is eroding stability and stalling progress.
Addressing citizens during his Resetting Ghana tour in the Northern Region on Sunday, April 19, 2026, Mahama acknowledged intensified operations by security agencies but insisted the offensive must cut deeper than street-level arrests.
“Drugs are destroying young people, and so NACOC and the police are concerned about drugs not only in the Northern Region, but also all over the country. It’s several of the regions,” he said.
He disclosed that a special task force dispatched by the Inspector-General of Police had recently netted numerous arrests, yet conceded that most suspects occupy the lowest rung of the trafficking hierarchy.
“Recently, the IGP sent a task force here, and they arrested a lot of these drug pushers, but we must move further. It is the case that a lot of those who were arrested are not the drug barons. There are those who bring the drugs in large quantities, and then they give them to these young people to be the peddlers,” he said.
“So, most of the time, those we arrest are the peddlers and not the barons who smuggle these drugs into the system,” he added.
President Mahama revealed that port surveillance and interdiction mechanisms have been fortified to choke supply lines before narcotics infiltrate the country, noting that substantial consignments have already been intercepted and incinerated.
“We have recently tightened our operations at the port, and I must tell you, if you know the amount of drugs we have confiscated and burnt, all those drugs would have entered the system. So, we are trying to stop the drugs from coming in,” he said.
He further identified transnational smuggling as a critical vulnerability, with traffickers exploiting porous borders and informal corridors often ferrying contraband via motorbikes from neighboring territories into Ghana.
“While we are at that, some people smuggle through our neighbouring countries and use motorbikes to bring them into the country. So our task forces are doing well, and we must find ways to help them so that they can fight drugs in their areas of operation,” he added.