By Mark Mengonfia,mmenginfia@gmail.com
Liberian President George M. Weah has written members of the House of Representatives seeking ratification of some instruments against illicit narcotic drugs.
The instruments President Weah wants the legislature ratify include United Nations Convention against illicit narcotic drugs and psychotropic substance of 1988, single convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 and the convention on psychotropic substance of 1971.
The Liberian leader in his communication to that body indicated that the objectives of those instruments are to limit the use if narcotic drugs and psychotropic substance to legitimize medical and scientific progresses, and to ensure that narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances are available for medical and scientific purposes.
President Weah said “Honorable Speaker, I trust that the legislature will ratify these Conventions, which seek to improve the mental health situation in our country”.
According to him, Liberia lacks stringent drug mechanism to ensure that treatment of mental health patients and others related conditions are grounded on evidence based therapy.
President Weah in the communication referenced the prolonged civil conflict of Liberia which he said broke down every fabric of the Liberian society.
He indicated that the use of illicit drugs which is prominent among the youthful population of Liberia can be linked to the civil unrest which took away thousands of lives and millions worth of properties. If the request from the Liberian leader is ratified, it means that narcotic (weed) and psychotic substances are only going to be used by health reasons and not openly consume as it done now in the Liberian society.
After the reading of the communication, the plenary of the House of Representatives forwarded the President’s request to its committees on Health, Judiciary, Foreign Affairs, and National security to report within two weeks’ time.
The unanswered question that lenders is how can the President request for such a ratification when He ( President Weah) has identified disadvantage youth in the known as” zogoes” as a legal body thus providing 5,000 each to them.
Ahead of the celebration of Liberia’s 172 Independence Day, disadvantage youth who are known to abuse drugs each received Liberian dollars 5,000 from the Liberian leader.
This “goodwill gesture” from President Weah got commendations and condemnations.
Some the disadvantaged youths openly told President Weah that the money he provided them was not a help, but was contributing to their “bad habits”.
Some of those disadvantage youth said that if the Liberian leader wanted to help them, he should have used the money to open a rehabilitation center for them something they said would have help integrate them in the society.
One of them remarked: “The President action is only intended to recruit more young people on the streets because they will think that taking drugs is good and for that reason we receiving benefits from it. What I expected from the President was to take use somewhere to help flush this drug from our system rather than giving 5,000 to us”.
While other Liberians have the views that the goodwill gesture from the President was not in any way means of supporting the drug habits of the disadvantaged youth calling themselves “Zogoes”.