Mental Health and Substance Abuse Concerns in Bono Region

Mr. Joseph Yere, the Bono Regional Coordinator of Mental Health, has called on the Ghana Education Service to intensify measures to control the growing consumption of toffees laced with Indian hemp by some students in Senior and Junior High Schools.

He expressed worry that many of the students who took the substance ended up with serious mental health conditions. Mr. Yere noted that presently, one person in every household in Ghana had a mental health condition.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani, he said the situation remained alarming and called for collective efforts to bring it under control.

Mr. Yere explained that: “Out of the top 20 mobility indicators, substance and illicit drug abuse is the third leading cause of mental health problems in the Bono Region.”

“Drug addiction is a disease that leads to mental health and the recovery process and going back to normal life is now expensive.”

He expressed concern about the rate at which the younger generation were engaging in substance and illicit drug abuse and called for immediate intervention to avert the situation and save the lives of the youth, whom he described as the future generation.

Mr. Yere also indicated that self-medication among pregnant women was another growing threat, saying the practice was contributing to epilepsy and other related mental health problems among children.

Source: GNA