Liberia News: 1.1 Million People Affected By Drugs

By Washington Tumay Watson

Liberia-Grand Bassa County District #5 Representative Thomas Goshua has disclosed that 1.1 million of Liberia’s population is affected by drugs and are living in ghettos across the country, although this paper could not verify the information as the lawmaker did not state where and how he obtained the statistics.

Ghetto is a derogatory term for a neighborhood characterized by low property values and relatively little public or private investment. It is a slang term that is generally considered an offensive stereotype because racial minorities have historically inhabited ghettos.

Given the alarming nature of the figure, the Grand Bassa lawmaker called on the Liberian Government to take urgent action to address the issue of illicit drugs affecting a portion of the country’s population, especially the young people.

He told OK FM Tuesday that government could prove to be serious in the fight against drugs through the allotment from the national budget to the Liberia Drugs Enforcement Agency (LDEA).

Unlike Liberia in the fight against drugs, according to him, other countries instituted serious actions by enacting laws and ensuring the effective implementation of such laws.

As a way of evoking a national spirit in the fight against drugs and substance abuse, the lawmaker observed that infectious diseases are being spread in the ghettos by at-risk youths heavily by affected by drugs.

“If the government and people do not take preventive measures the country will be engulfed with a pandemic that could affect the country, including the region,” Rep. Goshua stated. 

The Representative disclosed how his son was victimized by the use of illicit drugs upon his graduation from high school, but got rehabilitated. He emphasized that though his child came through, there are other parents’ children who cannot afford the costs of taking their children at rehabilitation centers.

He claimed that school-going kids are now introduced to illicit drugs at their various campuses.