Editorial: Ghana's classrooms must never become marketplaces for drugs

A university campus should be a place where young people discover ideas, build careers and prepare for adulthood not a marketplace for narcotics disguised as drinks, sweets or ice cream.

The arrest of students over the alleged sale of cannabis-infused food and beverages at Koforidua Technical University should concern every Ghanaian, regardless of the outcome of the criminal investigation. The case shines a spotlight on a growing and deeply worrying question: Are drugs quietly finding a home in our educational institutions?

That question demands urgent attention.

Across the world, cannabis is increasingly being marketed in new forms. Gone are the days when it was associated only with smoking. Today, cannabis can be mixed into soft drinks, sweets, chocolates, cookies, gummies and even ice cream. These products are often packaged to look harmless, making them difficult to identify and potentially attractive to young people.

If such products are making their way onto school and university campuses in Ghana, the country faces a public health challenge as much as a law enforcement one.

Education is built on trust.

Parents send their children to school believing they will return home with knowledge, discipline and the values needed to succeed in life. Teachers and lecturers expect students to develop their talents in safe environments. Society invests billions of cedis in education because today's students will become tomorrow's doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs, journalists, judges and political leaders.

Drug trafficking has no place in that environment.

Those who manufacture or sell narcotics on campuses are not merely breaking the law. They risk exploiting fellow students, exposing them to substances whose strength and effects they may not understand, and undermining the very purpose of education.

The danger becomes even greater when narcotics are hidden in food or drinks.

A student offered what appears to be an ordinary beverage or dessert may have no idea it contains a controlled substance. That raises serious questions about consent, health and safety. It also creates risks for people with underlying medical conditions and those who may unknowingly consume the products.

The consequences can be devastating.

Drug abuse among young people has been linked globally to poor academic performance, addiction, mental health problems, impaired judgement, road accidents, violence and crime. While not everyone who experiments with drugs becomes addicted, every addiction begins somewhere.

No responsible society should wait until the problem becomes widespread before acting.

This is not simply a policing issue.

Universities and senior high schools must strengthen campus security and ensure that student events are properly supervised. Vendors operating during festivals, SRC week celebrations and entertainment programmes should be properly vetted. School authorities should establish clear reporting mechanisms for suspicious activity and enforce disciplinary rules fairly and consistently.

Parents also have a responsibility.

The transition from adolescence to adulthood is often accompanied by curiosity, peer pressure and a desire to fit in. Open conversations about drugs, mental health and personal responsibility are far more effective than silence or denial. Families should not assume that because a child has entered university or boarding school, they are beyond guidance.

Student leaders, too, must recognise that leadership extends beyond organising entertainment. It includes protecting the welfare of those they represent. Campus events should never become opportunities for criminal activity to flourish.

Government agencies have their role to play.

The Narcotics Control Commission, the Ghana Education Service, the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission and

university administrations should work together to improve awareness, strengthen surveillance and ensure that institutions remain safe places for learning. Enforcement is essential, but prevention is equally important.

Public education should be intensified so that young people understand not only the legal consequences of drug trafficking but also the long-term health and social costs of substance abuse.

At the same time, Ghana must avoid treating every young offender as a lost cause.

Students found to have made poor choices should face the legal consequences where appropriate, but where rehabilitation is available and suitable, it should be embraced. The objective must be to prevent lives from being permanently derailed while ensuring that those who deliberately profit from drug trafficking are held fully accountable under the law.

The message should be unequivocal.

Schools are for learning.

Universities are for innovation.

Neither should become testing grounds for narcotics disguised as refreshments or entrepreneurship.

If Ghana fails to confront this emerging threat now, it risks allowing drug culture to take root where the nation's

future is being shaped.

The classroom must remain a place where minds are expanded not impaired. That is a responsibility shared by students, parents, educators, law enforcement agencies and every citizen who believes education should open

doors to opportunity, not addiction.