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ILLICIT DRUGS AND POLITICS – THE WAY FORWARD
BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA
By Georgette Dede Djaba, LLM Solicitor, London , 29 November
2010
I have been extremely fascinated by developments over the
past week in Ghana with regard to illicit drugs and
Politicians.
On the one hand, in the red corner, we have heard the
indefatigable and formidable lawyer and politician, Nana
Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo stating categorically that he has
never done drugs and in the blue corner, Hon. Ama Benyiwa
Doe MP, Minster for Central Region stating that all NPP
members are drug peddlers. What is the perception of
Ghanaians abroad?
Our community based radio stations in London, in particular
Focus Radio were jammed with callers asking Nana to provide
a medical report to silence his critics such as the
controversial maverick politician/comic Kofi Wayo called for
proof of Nana’s assertion by way of blood test and current
medical report. Medical reports are confidential in the UK.
I am not sure whether Nana Addo would be willing to provide
a medical report. Is it necessary? Our Prime Minister, Rt.
Hon. Dave Cameron MP stated that he had dabbled in illicit
drugs when he was younger. He continued to say that since he
became an MP and since he entered the Palace of Westminster,
he has not taken illicit drugs. On 11 February 2007, 3 years
before the general elections in the UK, it was reported in
the Independent newspaper as follows:
“David Cameron, the Conservative leader, has admitted taking
drugs when he was a 15-year-old schoolboy at Eton, The
Independent on Sunday can reveal today.
"The disclosures that Mr Cameron has smoked cannabis came in
a new biography serialised in today's paper. It is expected
to mark a watershed in the debate about drugs in Britain,
making him the first party leader and prospective British
prime minister to confess to breaking the law over its use.
The disclosure - in a biography written by Independent on
Sunday journalists Francis Elliott and James Hanning - is
conclusive evidence of Mr.Cameron's drugs past.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/yes-i-took-drugs-says-cameron-435954.html
In my humble opinion, the Cameron confessions cleared the
air and paved the way for some members of the voting public
to ‘forgive’ him and vote for him. They saw him as an honest
leader and probably attributed the taking of illicit drugs
to youthful exuberance. Some members of the black community
even perceived him as a “brother”. The most powerful man in
the world, Barack Obama also made similar confessions
regarding using drugs when he was younger in one of his book
“Dreams from my father”.
My personal view is not the drug taking as what it does to
the individual that dabbles in them. It can affect their
behaviour and cognitive thinking ability. It can also lead
to death. According to the Guardian newspaper, in the U.K,
three drugs that produce so-called "legal highs" were banned
at the end of last year (2009) after at least two deaths
were linked to their use. Ghanaians need to learn more about
the effects of drugs on our bodies and our minds.
Alan Johnson, the then UK Home Secretary, followed advice
from government group ‘the Advisory Council on the Misuse of
Drugs’, to outlaw GBL, a legal alternative to the class C
drug GHB, the cannabis substitute Spice and the amphetamine
alternative BZP.
Hester Stewart, a 21-year-old medical student, died after
taking GBL, which can kill when combined with alcohol, in
April 2009. In 2008, Daniel Backhouse, a 22-year-old
mortgage broker, suffered heart failure after mixing BZP
with powdered ecstasy.
The Home Office launched a campaign last year to inform
people about the risks associated with the drugs, including
serious heart problems, vomiting, anxiety attacks, mood
swings and seizures.
"There is a perception that many of the so called 'legal
highs' are harmless," the former home secretary said.
However, in some cases people can be ingesting dangerous
industrial fluids or smoking chemicals that can be even more
harmful than cannabis."
Spice will be classified as a class B drug, which means
users, could face up to five years in prison as well as a
fine in the UK. Those dealing the drug could get up to 14
years in prison and a fine. Both GBL and BZP will be
classified as class C drugs, which means users could face a
two-year jail term and dealers could get up to 14 years.
But Stewart's mother, Maryon Stewart, said the drug should
be made class A – the same category as heroin and ecstasy.
"I think GBL is every bit as dangerous as heroin and
ecstasy, if not more so," she added. "Because it's lethal
when combined with alcohol, it should be a class A drug."
She also criticized delays in introducing the ban, warning
that waiting until MPs returned from their summer holidays
on 12 October 2009 could mean more deaths.
An inquest into Stewart's death was told that although the
level of GBL she had consumed was low and would not have
stopped a full recovery in some people, its combination with
alcohol had proved fatal. Drugs charities gave a mixed
reception to the decision.
Steve Rolles, the head of research at Transform, warned that
users might return to the banned drugs the 'legal highs' had
been intended to replace. "Instead of using Spice, they will
go back to cannabis," he said. "Instead of using BZP, they
will go back to amphetamines, and instead of GBL, they will
go back to GHB."
But Martin Barnes, the chief executive of the drug
information charity DrugScope, said he supported the ban. He
reported a rise in the number of people experiencing
problems with GBL, saying: "The drug is unpredictable ... it
is linked to fatalities and there is evidence of people
becoming dependent on it after prolonged use."
The government in the UK will also ban several anabolic
steroids, which are used by bodybuilders and have been
linked to extreme anger known as "rhoid rage", fertility
problems and stunted growth. Need I say more?
Georgette Djaba is a solicitor of the Supreme Court of
England and Wales with specific expertise in Immigration and
Nationality, Family Law and the Law relating to children.
Email: gdjaba@yahoo.com
Related articles:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/aug/25/government-to-outlaw-legal-high-drugs
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/alanjohnson
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/yes-i-took-drugs-says-cameron-435954.html
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