West Africa Commission on Drugs: 'Drugs users need help, not prison'

Former President Olusegun Obansanjo of Nigeria and Chairman of WACD, said that “discussions with the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Republic of Ghana and law enforcement agencies confirmed a regional reality that many drug users and small traffickers end up in jail with harsh sentences while the “big fish” often escape arrest and prosecution” at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday,

He added that said consultations with the Ghanaian Financial Intelligence Centre indicated that while Ghana has put in place appropriate institutional and regulatory framework, there is still a great concern that drug money is being laundered.

The WACD delegation to Ghana led by Mr Justice Bankole Thompson of Sierra Leone, met representatives of the civil society, the international community and health experts to discuss the impact of drug trafficking and consumption on governance, security and public health in Ghana and West Africa.

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