International Narcotics Control Board Report for 2011 launched

International Narcotics Control Board 2011 Report has been launched in Accra with a call on Sub-Regional governments to seriously tackle the growing scale of the threat illicit drug trafficking posed to governance, security and democracy.

The report, which is released annually, is on theme, “Youth have a Right to be protected from Drug Abuse and Dependence”.

The smuggling of cocaine and heroin from South America to Europe through West Africa has increased with the total seizures of cocaine rising from less than 100 kilos a decade ago to nearly 6,500 kilos in 2009.

The World Bank even estimated that cocaine with a street value of $6.8 billion was trafficked through the Sub-Region in 2011.

Mr Kobby Acheampong, Deputy Minister of the Interior, who launched the report in Accra, said organisations such as the United Nations and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)  had already sounded the alarm and governments were taking actions to stem and disrupt the flow of drugs.

He explained that a meeting of experts from within the Sub-Region and the international community would be convened later this year to provide new impetus and solutions to the threat.

The meeting will assess the dangers that drug trafficking poses to governance, security and democracy in the Sub-Region and propose concrete measures to combat this insidious menace.

“It will be a terrible tragedy if drugs were again used to plunge West Africa into conflict and destroy the progress and hard won democratic gains of recent years,” he added.

Source: GNA