There is something to be addressed urgently by Liberians themselves and partners about Liberia’s wellbeing, which is to combat drug abuse holistically by arresting dealers and prosecuting them, recruiting drug addicts and rehabilitating them, or Liberia’s future leaders and the society’s wellbeing would be undetermined; writes Ojuku Silver-tongue Kangar, Jr.
Having discovered the pending uncontrollable havoc drug abuse would cause for the society if it is not tackled now, the Citizens United Against Drugs Abuse (CUADA) was launched over the weekend to rally government and other partners to battle illicit drugs and abuse nationwide.
“So, we as citizens, we have come together to tell the world, to tell our leaders that we are tired with drug abuse. It is spoiling our society. It is spoiling the young generation. It is spoiling our children that we are building for tomorrow,” Leona Moore, the founder of CUADA, said during the launching program on the Du-Port Road.
The program, which calls drug and drug abuse a national concern and a security threat, brought together Liberians and drug addicts from Margibi County and from several districts of Montserrado County and its environs. They pledged their unflinching support to the cause.
The negative impact of the substance on the youthful population is common in every county and community, and has effect on families and individuals somehow.
“Everyone of us here, one way or the other we are affected [by drug abuse], directly or indirectly. Be your child, nephew, relative’s child—some way, we are affected. So we are saying, let’s come together, join forces to fight drug abuse. We cannot do it alone,” CUADA’s Chairman, Richard Whenda, said.
CUADA, is in collaboration with President George M. Weah’s Chief of Protocol, Ambassador Finda Nora Bundoo, for the re-election bid of the President. It aligns with the President’s second-term bid to enable the President continue what he has started, according to the founder.
“We will vote for you the second time because you are not sleeping on this issue of drug abuse. Because of this fight, the construction of the rehabilitation center in the Margibi County is actively running and has a prospect of being expanded, so we say our brothers and sisters need to be rehabilitated,” Moore said. But the Hot Pepper has not independently confirmed the construction of the rehabilitation in Margibi County.
Drug abuse’s effect on the society is woeful, causing citizens to have sleepless nights and to hurriedly leave the streets at night hours, rushing home before drug addicts rob them.
The drug addicts’ presence is a security threat in every county and community. They dwell in the cemeteries, unfinished buildings, and have no feeling of normal beings due to the effect of the substance on them.
They use machetes in the day and night hours at street corners to attack pedestrians and snatch their valuables. Their presence in the society is a threat to the citizens’ wellbeing, and they are dying prematurely as a result of a newly invented substance called “kush”. They recruit on a daily basis in every community and have a structured leadership which mentors them in carrying out their evil acts.
“They need to be transformed, equipped and empowered so that when they come back into the society they will be productive. They will be taxpayers and assets to our government, society, instead of the being liability,” Moore said.
She added that Ambassador Nora Finda Bundoo has heard the cry of the children who are directly affected by narcotic drug use, and the cry of mothers whose children from the slum communities are victims of the substance abuse.
“They are affected because of drug abuse. She has heard the cry of the citizens, and said she has joined this fight against drug abuse, and she is with us to the end,” Moore quoted Ambassador Nora Finda Bundoo as saying.
The group called on the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA), the lead campaigner of drug abuse, to form unity and tighten all bordering points and set up a special citizens’ taskforce that will help the government in combating drug abuse.
The formation of the organization came about when many young people gave their plight during the conduct of a survey, and it was very disheartening to hear that they are people with potential, skills, people who are educated, and strong men and women who are dying silently. “So we said we would not sit there, but rise up to champion the cause to fight against this drug abuse,” Moore stated.
“The fight has started just by your coming here today. It has started. We are not enemy to government; we are partners with them. We trust our government under the administration of His Excellency Dr. George M. Weah. We will vote for you the second time because you are not sleeping on this issue of drug abuse,” she added. “We are open to partnering with NGos, donors, international partners, who are fighting against drug abuse, and national government. There is more to be done, for that, vote for the second term of President George Manneh Weah. I am with the strong conviction that the President, upon his return, shall sign the anti-drug law into law.”
CUADA has a legal ground to fight drug abuse. Recently, the National Legislature passed an anti-drug law, “The Controlled Drugs and Substances Act of 2023”.
When it is signed by the President, the law proposed that trafficking, cultivation, manufacture, importation, exportation and sale of illicit drugs should be made a first-degree felony, which would make the crime a non-bailable offense.
It added that the sentence for such crimes is life imprisonment upon conviction, with properties, real and personal, used in the commission of these crimes escheated to the state, with the proceeds from the sale of the properties, according to the Committee, appropriated with 25% going towards drug enforcement agencies, another 25% allotted for drug prevention and rehabilitation programs, and the remaining 50% allocated to the general revenue.