The Education Coordinator of the anti-drug campaign organisation, Action Against Drugs International (AADI), Mr. Stephen Amuzu, has vehemently refuted the assertion that use of illicit drugs such as marijuana had medicinal value, and could assist students learn and pass their examinations.
Mr. Amuzu said illicit drugs, no matter how it is used, has no positive impact on the human body, let alone assist students in learning and passing their exams.
He has, therefore, urged students to discard the notion and shun the use of drugs, since it had the tendency to negatively affect their academic career. and eventually make them go mad.
The Education Coordinator for AADI gave the advice during a sensitisation workshop organised by the non-governmental organisation (NGO) for some selected Junior and Senior High school students in the Ashanti Region last Thursday.
The seminar formed part of ongoing programmes initiated by the organisation to educate SHS students in the Ashanti Region about the negative effects of illicit drugs and other banned substances.
About 500 participants, drawn from various senior high schools in the metropolis, were taken through the harmful effects of the use of various illicit drugs such as marijuana, heroin, cocaine and others.
Mr. Amuzu said the organisation had been organising a series of workshops, counseling and sensitisation programmes to bring the attention of the youth, especially students, to the need to desist from the use of such drugs, because of its negative impact on the person and the society.
The Founder and Director of the NGO, Armstrong Nana-Bonsu, said first and second cycle students were targeted, because they were most vulnerable and susceptible to peer pressure and societal influence.
He said currently, the organisation was assisting in the rehabilitation of some victims of drug abuse, aged between of 13 and 15 years, who were introduced to the use of such drugs by friends.
Pix: Mr. Stephen Amuzu and Armstrong Nana-Bonsu, leaders of the organisation