{"id":96300,"date":"2025-09-29T14:11:05","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T14:11:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=96300"},"modified":"2025-09-29T14:11:05","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T14:11:05","slug":"wee-tea-bags-found-in-shs-students-bag-as-nacoc-warns-of-rising-drug-use-in-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=96300","title":{"rendered":"Wee tea bags found in SHS student\u2019s bag as NACOC warns of rising drug use in schools"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) says marijuana is now being packaged as tea bags and smuggled into senior high school campuses, a development it describes as a new method targeting young people.<\/p>\n

According to the Deputy Director-General of NACOC, Alexander Twum-Barimah, a form one student in a senior high school in the Eastern Region was caught with one of the tea bag samples hidden in his school bag.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to Asamankese in the Eastern Region and during my conversation with the District Chief Executive, he mentioned that a form one student was coming to school and among his belongings, a wee tea bag was found,\u201d Mr. Twum-Barimah said in a television interview with Woezor TV, broadcast on Sunday, September 28.<\/p>\n

He explained that the problem has moved beyond senior high schools, with marijuana use now spreading to basic schools.<\/p>\n

Mr. Twum-Barimah expressed concern about the age profile of drug users, citing the case of a 16-year-old boy who was caught carrying two sticks of marijuana.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a person that we contacted at that time, and we found a 16-year-old boy. He carried two sticks of marijuana. Sixteen? Two sticks. Why should that happen?\u201d he questioned.<\/p>\n

According to him, the challenge has become so widespread that district assemblies are requesting the establishment of NACOC offices in their areas.<\/p>\n

He said NACOC had already set up offices in the Asamankese District, Adansi Municipality, and Ashanti Akim District to strengthen local response.<\/p>\n

Mr. Twum-Barimah also revealed that NACOC had closed down six drug stores and two pharmacies for selling unapproved high-dose tramadol.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I sit here, we have closed not less than six drugstores and two pharmacies. We will continue to close more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He clarified that tramadol is not banned in Ghana, but the dosage is regulated by law.<\/p>\n

\u201cTramadol usage is not illegal. But by law, you can use 50 mg or 100 mg maximum, and that should be on a prescription from a physician. Dosages above 100 mg are not permitted,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Mr. Twum-Barimah recalled witnessing the dangers of drug-impaired behaviour on the road, narrating how a motor rider, suspected to be under the influence, crashed into his car while speeding.<\/p>\n

READ ALSO: NACOC shuts eight chemist shops for illegal tramadol sales<\/p>\n

He said NACOC, under the leadership of Brigadier General Mantey, is determined to reduce drug abuse among the youth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a leadership that is determined to do what is right, and even if we cannot eradicate drug use completely, we will bring it to the barest minimum,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"WeeThe Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) says marijuana is now being packaged as tea bags and smuggled into senior high school campuses, a development it describes as a new method targeting young people.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9526,7,1917,5089,1883,117,10,9,3821,9527],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drug-use","category-health","category-hp-news-4","category-nacoc","category-national","category-news","category-politics","category-popular","category-schools","category-wee-tea-bag"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96300\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}