Fight against substance abuse: Biihee Traditional Council enacts by-laws

The Paramount Chief of the Biihee Traditional Area in the Upper West Region, Naa Naatasuung Taafar Pelpuo, has disclosed that the Biihee Traditional Council has passed by-laws to check substance abuse in the area.

He said per the by-laws, the traditional council would mete out punishment permissible by law when the by-laws are flouted, with the culprit arrested and handed over to the police if the offence is beyond them.

Making the disclosure in an interview with the Daily Graphic on the sidelines of the Upper West Regional launch of Health Fairs in Wa last Tuesday, Naa Pelpuo said the by-laws made it an offence to send a child to buy drugs (narcotics) or cigarettes, and anyone caught doing that would be dealt with.

Substance abuse

The health fair was organised by Norsaac in collaboration with the Upper West Regional Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and was on the theme: “Promoting good life through the adoption of positive health behaviour.

The Paramount Chief said the menace of substance abuse in the country was becoming serious and it was high time something was done about it.

“Every child that you see moving about in town with the shorts or trousers hanging below the butt when you search that person, there is the likelihood that you will find drugs on that person and in every household you go, there is a drug addict there.

“And it is growing. The sales are growing, the use of it is growing and it is like no one cares about it,” he bemoaned.

Traditional leaders

Naa Pelpuo said “we need help. Powers should be given to the traditional leaders to put a stop to this menace.”

He said there was very little the traditional leaders could do as the law would not permit them to take certain actions.

Currently, he said, the Wa Naa had set up a watchdog committee to clamp down on the dealers, but “when they arrest these people and hand them over to the police, it ends there.

Nothing happens; as if there were no eyewitnesses to help the police to prosecute the case.”

He, however, called for traditional leaders to be given the powers to deal with social miscreants as part of the measures to reduce social vices in the country.

He said most of the social vices, particularly substance abuse, could be curbed if chiefs were given the powers to discipline such offenders, rather than allowing the police to handle them.

Naa Pelpuo said very often, the miscreants returned to society more emboldened than before and continued their acts unabated, stating that substance abuse was currently on the rise among the youth. He, therefore, called for support from the GHS to educate the youth on the menace.