As drug is an existential threat and is eating away the future of the children and country, President Joseph N. Boakai, Vice President Jeremiah K. Koon, and several ministers have taken drug tests in fulfilment of the President’s State-of-the-Nation Address, in which he declared illicit drug and substance public health emergency; writes Ojuku Silver-tongue Kangar, Jr.
“In this fight, me and my Vice President—we will be the first to take a drug test, and I urge all others to follow,” President Boakai said during the State-of-the-Nation Address.
On Wednesday, President Boakai, Vice President Koon and several ministers took their drug tests at the Executive Mansion. The test, which was administered by Dr. Nicole Cooper and team of the Wellness Partners Clinic, pronounced the President and Vice President negative to the press, and applauding ovation was given them in the end.
Those who took the drug test along with the President and Vice President included Foreign Minister-Designate, Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency boss, Minister of State, Executive Protection Service Director, Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Education, Minister of Finance Planning and Development, and so on.
In jiffy remarks after the administration of the drug test, President Boakai said, “What we have done this morning just shows our commitment, what we say and what we’re going to do. It shows that we want to lead by example.” He added, “We don’t want to subject anybody to anything that we ourselves don’t believe. We want to assure the Liberians that we are serious.”
According to political pundits, President Boakai is the first Liberian President to publicly take the drug test along with his Vice President and ministers.
Drug and substance have been a woe to parents and the youthful population since the war subsided, causing children to be disobedient to parents, wayward, mothering and fathering children, sleeping in cemeteries, among others. Parents’ quest during the 2023 elections was for the elimination of narcotic drugs from the society and rehabilitation of youths who have fallen prey to them.
“We must stand up and face this national security risk together,” President Boakai said, declaring holistic battle on drug during the State-of-the-Nation Address.
Before the President and others took the test on Wednesday, a few senators had done it earlier, which is in obedience to the President’s public plead to all government officials to follow suit.
“It is difficult time and we want the country to be respected. Everywhere there is crisis, we have to be patient. I want to tell you that we are here to do the right things for the sake of this country and future generation,” Liberia’s 26th President said at the Executive Mansion. “What we have done this morning is to demonstrate that to you that we are going to do all what we promise to do.”
According to the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency, these drugs – heroin, cocaine, hallucinogens, crack, amphetamines, marijuana, alcohol, inhalants, prescription drugs, and kush—are damaging Liberia’s youthful population. The most dangerous one is the “kush”, which is very strong and was allegedly used by Egyptians for embalmment.
Last year’s drug and substance law, which was passed by the Legislature and signed by President George M. Weah into law, provides penalties for drug possession or use, supply, trafficking, production, an alternative to incarceration, harm reduction, public health and human rights, confiscation of properties, among others, and will also reduce the number of disadvantaged youths in the streets.
But the law has become a toothless bull dog as the proliferation of disadvantaged youths is on the rise due to narcotics, a situation that has posed a threat to national security and the society at large.
Due to the path President Boakai is taking, parents, guardians, and political pundits are lauding the new regime, calling on him to clampdown the illicit drug so that the society can become drug-free and restore the hope of Liberia’s future generation.