Youth Drug Abuse in Ghana: A Mental Health and Development Challenge

Drug use among young people in Ghana is no longer a hidden problem. What was once limited to alcohol and cigarettes has now expanded into shisha, tramadol, cannabis, and codeine cough syrups. This trend is worrying parents, schools, and communities across the country.

Young people are experimenting with these substances for many reasons. Some say they need extra energy to get through long days or hard labour. Others take drugs to boost their confidence, dull emotional pain, or even suppress hunger.

Peer pressure and the glamourisation of drug use in music, movies, and social media also play a role. Above all, the lack of jobs and opportunities makes many young people feel frustrated and restless, and drugs become a way to cope.

The impact is serious. Drugs are not just a private habit. They derail education, undermine health, and threaten the country’s future. Ghana’s youth are her greatest resource. If we lose them to addiction, the much-talked-about demographic dividend will slip away.

What Ghanaian youth are using
Various studies in recent years have shown that substance use among Ghanaian youth is widespread and growing more complex. Surveys among adolescents and senior high school students point to alcohol, shisha, cannabis, tramadol, and codeine syrups as the most commonly used substances. While some of these are legal but misused, others are illegal or accessed through unregulated markets. Together, they create a risky landscape that threatens the health and future of young people across the country.

To grasp the scale of the problem, it is useful to look at the main substances one after another.

First, alcohol remains the single most widely used substance. Despite laws that prohibit sales to minors, bottles of akpeteshie, sachets of spirits, and bottles and cans of beer are easily available at kiosks, community gatherings, and even family events. Alcohol is often introduced casually at social occasions, but for many young people, occasional drinking spirals into risky behaviour, school absenteeism, and in some cases, dependence. Because alcohol is so normalised in Ghanaian society, the dangers it poses to youth are often underestimated.

Second, shisha smoking has rapidly grown into one of the most fashionable trends, especially among senior high school and university students. Many believe, wrongly, that shisha is safer than cigarettes because it is flavoured or filtered through water.

In reality, one shisha session can deliver the equivalent of several cigarettes worth of harmful chemicals. Shisha lounges are popping up in urban centres, drawing young people into a lifeclass that looks glamourous but hides serious health risks, including long-term respiratory damage and nicotine addiction.

Third, cannabis, or “wee” as it is popularly known, continues to be the most widely used illegal drug in Ghana. Its reputation as a “natural” or “herbal” substance leads many to downplay its dangers. Yet heavy cannabis use among young people is linked to serious mental health problems, including paranoia, depression, and even psychosis.

Disturbingly, studies in Ghana have shown a link between cannabis use and suicidal behaviours among senior high school students. While not every young user will face these extreme effects, the risks are high enough to make cannabis a major concern for parents, educators, and health officials.

Fourth, perhaps the most alarming trend in recent years is the misuse of pharmaceutical drugs, especially tramadol and codeine-based syrups. Tramadol, a strong painkiller intended only for medical use, has become a drug of choice for many young people. Some take it to boost energy for long hours of work. Others believe it enhances sexual performance. Still others use it to cope with stress, depression, or hunger.

The problem is that tramadol is addictive and dangerous in high doses, leading to seizures, organ damage, and even death. Codeine cough syrups, despite being banned in Ghana since 2018, continue to circulate on the underground-market. Many young people use them for their sedative and euphoric effects, often mixing them with soft drinks or alcohol.

Recent studies reinforce this trend. A 2025 survey in northern Ghana found that 11.4% of university students had misused tramadol, with nearly a quarter showing signs of dependency. The Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) has also raised alarms about the widespread misuse of tramadol, often mixed with food and beverages, warning of the severe health consequences.

Street-involved youth most vulnerable
Street-involved children and adolescents are perhaps the most vulnerable. For them, drug use is often less about recreation and more about survival. On the streets of Accra, Kumasi, and Takoradi, drugs like marijuana, tramadol, and alcohol are used to dull hunger pangs, escape trauma, or gather the courage to face daily struggles such as violence, exploitation, and police harassment. Their use of drugs is not simply a matter of choice, but a coping mechanism born out of hardship.

Easy accessibility
The worrying reality is that these substances are cheap and widely accessible. Alcohol is sold at every corner shop, shisha lounges operate freely in many urban areas, cannabis is grown and distributed in both rural and urban communities, and unregistered pharmaceuticals flow through porous borders and informal markets. With little regulation, weak enforcement, and a culture of silence, Ghanaian youth find themselves surrounded by temptation and opportunity at every turn.

This expanding drug landscape among young people is not just a health concern. It is a mirror reflecting wider social problems: poverty, weak enforcement, and the lack of recreational or empowering alternatives. Understanding what Ghanaian youth are using is the first step to understanding why and how the nation can intervene before more young lives are wasted.

Why this matters
Youth drug abuse is not just a health issue but also a mental health and development crisis. Drugs amplify depression and anxiety, while heavy cannabis use is linked to psychosis. Many young people turn to drugs because they are already battling stress, unemployment, or family problems. Instead of solving their struggles, drugs only deepen them, trapping young people in a cycle of dependence and despair.

This undermines Ghana’s development. A sick and addicted generation cannot build the strong economy and society the country dreams of. Every classroom seat lost to addiction is a blow to the future. Every young life wasted is a loss of human capital that Ghana cannot afford. The future of Ghana rests on her youth, her greatest asset and strength.

What government is doing
To its credit, Ghana has taken bold steps. In 2020, the Narcotics Control Commission Act reframed drug use as primarily a health issue. Possession of small amounts for personal use no longer automatically leads to prison, but can result in fines or referral to treatment and counselling. This marks a shift away from punishment and towards care.

The government has also banned codeine cough syrups, restricted tramadol sales, and authorised the cultivation of low-THC cannabis for medical and industrial purposes. Ghana’s National Drug Control Master Plan aims to strengthen prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation services, with a focus on youth.

In addition, the government and its partners have rolled out new campaigns. In 2025, the Ministry of Youth launched the nationwide ‘Red Means Stop’ initiative, part of the Ghana Against Drugs campaign, which takes prevention messages into schools, faith communities, and youth groups. The Food and Drugs Authority has also joined forces with musicians under the ‘DAABI – Say No to Drugs’ project, using popular culture to engage young people.

These reforms and campaigns are promising, but their true impact will depend on sustained implementation. This means strengthening enforcement against traffickers while avoiding the criminalisation of users, ensuring that illegal markets do not continue to thrive unchecked, and expanding treatment centres beyond Accra and Kumasi so that young people across the country can access support.

Without these concrete steps, government initiatives like ‘Red Means Stop’ risk becoming one-off events rather than lasting solutions.

What needs to happen
If Ghana wants to protect its young people, prevention must begin in schools. Drug education should not just be warnings but should teach life skills, how to resist peer pressure, manage stress, and make healthy choices. Peer-led initiatives and extracurricular programmes can also help change the culture around drug use.

Communities must get involved. Religious bodies, youth groups, and traditional leaders all have a role to play in shaping values and offering positive role models. Parents, too, need support in talking openly to their children about the risks of drug use.

Treatment services must expand, especially outside Accra and Kumasi. Young people in rural areas deserve the same access to counselling and rehabilitation as those in cities. Mental health services need to be fully integrated, because many cases of drug abuse are tied to depression, anxiety, and trauma.

As experts from NACOC have emphasised, peer pressure alone does not explain substance use. Genetic, psychological, and environmental drivers mean that prevention must address not only behaviour but also the wider vulnerabilities of youth: unemployment, social exclusion, and family stress.

Enforcement must also improve, but not in a way that simply jails young people. Crackdowns should target the underground-market profiteers who push drugs into schools and communities, while users should be diverted to counselling and treatment.

Finally, we cannot ignore the elephant in the room: unemployment. When young people feel they have no future, drugs offer a false escape. Real solutions must include jobs, skills training, and opportunities for youth to channel their energy productively.

NACOC’s Initiatives in schools
Some of these measures are not just aspirations. They are already beginning to take shape. The Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC), for instance, has started moving beyond enforcement into school-based prevention. It has established Drug-Free Clubs in some basic and second-cycle schools and trained students to serve as peer counsellors. These clubs are active across regions, running structured programmes, organising competitions, and providing supportive materials to strengthen prevention.

Such efforts represent a deliberate investment in peer-led prevention, school engagement, and mental health support, an approach that aligns closely with the holistic solutions Ghana urgently needs.

Learning from Africa
Ghana is not alone in facing a youth drug crisis. Across the continent, there are inspiring examples that show prevention and rehabilitation can work when governments, communities, and families act together.

In South Africa, the Community-Oriented Substance Use Programme (COSUP) is proving that treating drug use as a health issue, not a crime, delivers results. COSUP combines medical care, counselling, housing support, and job training, helping young people not just to stop using drugs but to rebuild their lives. With strong recovery rates, it shows that dignity and opportunity are just as important as treatment.

Another South African initiative, “Ke Moja - I’m Fine Without Drugs,” demonstrates the power of schools in prevention. Since 2003, it has reached millions of students with positive, practical messages about living drug-free. Instead of scaring children, it gives them the skills to resist peer pressure and make better decisions.

Ghana could adapt a similar approach by weaving life-skills and prevention into its school curriculum.

Community-driven initiatives also play a vital role. In South African townships, grassroots groups use sports, music, and peer mentorship to steer youth away from drugs. Because they are locally owned, they enjoy trust and have staying power.

Further north, in Lesotho, mothers have taken the lead through the Mokhosi oa Mangoana (“A Mother’s Cry”) movement. These women organise meetings, lobby for rehabilitation centres, and intervene when children are at risk. Their courage has put drug abuse firmly on the national agenda and reframed it as a family and community crisis.

In Ghana, where family ties remain strong, such grassroots leadership could be powerful.

Research from across Africa also highlights the effectiveness of school-based psychosocial programmes in countries like Kenya, Nigeria, and Tanzania. By teaching skills such as emotional regulation and problem-solving, they build resilience against drugs and other social pressures.

Ghana is also beginning to innovate with its own prevention campaigns, blending school-based programmes, faith-driven initiatives, and music-based outreach. These early efforts echo the lesson from elsewhere in Africa: that drug abuse prevention works best when rooted in local culture and driven by communities.

The common lesson from all these examples is clear: successful programmes do not treat drug abuse as a moral failing but as a complex challenge linked to health, unemployment, and family life. They are holistic, evidence-informed, and community-rooted.

Ghana does not need to reinvent the wheel. It can learn from these African models and adapt them to local realities.

The road ahead for Ghana
Ghana has already taken the important first step of recognising drug use as a health and social issue. But laws alone are not enough. The next step is more investment in prevention in schools, treatment, and youth empowerment.

Drug abuse is not simply a personal weakness. It reflects the pressures, frustrations, and inequalities facing young people. Addressing it requires compassion, care, and collective action.

The choice is clear. If Ghana ignores this crisis, it risks losing a generation. If it confronts it with courage, care, and creativity, the country will gain healthier, stronger, and more hopeful young citizens. The future of Ghana depends on the choices we make today.

Dr Moses Deyegbe Kuvoame is an Associate Professor at the University of South-Eastern Norway. Beyond academia, he engages as a public intellectual, writing on youth, education, governance, social justice, and marginalisation. He has also served on Norwegian Government expert committees on drug reform, urban living conditions, and child welfare institutions, all appointed through Royal Decrees.

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