General News of Thursday, 20 March 2014

Source: myjoyonline.com

Executive Director of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), Yaw Akrasi Sarpong says those against the lobbying for cannabis to be legalized in the country, appear to be losing the battle.

According to Mr. Akrasi Sarpong, the issue of drugs abuse has become more of public health issue than a moral one, but the anti-lobbyists have failed to effectively state their position and have rather turned to spirituality.

"If you are in a debate and you don't make an argument, you are on the losing side. It is not about a moral issue; drug abuse is a public health issue; cannabis use is hazardous if you use it on your person. Those are scientific data but the information gap between science and the society's knowledge needs to be bridged," Mr. Akrasi Sarpong said on the Super Morning Show on Joy FM on Thursday.

Additionally, he noted that "those of us, who are against it, we are just keeping quiet hoping that when we pray in tongues and pray in our rooms, then the challenge just goes off".

The Head of NACOB dominated the headlines a fortnight ago, when he called for a debate over whether or not marijuana should be legalized in the country. His reason is that increasingly, ordinary people do not think that possessing the mentally-disturbing substance is a crime.

Clarifying this point further, Mr. Akrasi Sarpong stated that calling on government to ban marijuana outright, is not the way to dealing with the drugs issue.

"Repression is not the solution to drugs issues...The evidence-based response is to involve the community; is to involve the society; it is not just sensitization...People think that if you smoke Indian Hemp then you are a bad man. That is not the way to go about it. The way to go about it is to recognize that it's a public health issue; the way to go about it is to tell people it is hazardous ...let's debate them [lobbyists] in the social media [and] let's debate them wherever they are. That is the way to go about it!", he emphasized He therefore called on the anti-lobbyists in the society to rise up to the challenge because; "we are on the losing side of the debate, but science and reason [common sense] are on our side".

Evidence of destruction

View original post here:
Praying in tongues cannot fight drugs menace - Akrasi Sarpong