President John Mahama has called for a more coordinated national response to drug abuse, urging traditional leaders to take an active role in identifying and dismantling networks supplying illicit drugs, particularly tramadol.

He said mental health can no longer be treated as a neglected area of public policy, stressing the need for community-driven interventions backed by law enforcement.

Addressing the Northern Regional House of Chiefs at the Jubilee House on Friday, May 15, the President encouraged chiefs to work closely with youth groups and the Ghana Police Service to establish local task forces aimed at disrupting drug distribution chains.

“Mental health can no longer remain a neglected area of public policy, and I urge our traditional leaders to become involved in the fight against drug abuse,” he said.

President Mahama noted that drug users should not be treated as criminals, but rather as victims of a broader supply network that profits from addiction and exploitation.

“The users are the victims, and so there’s no need attacking somebody who uses it and beating him. He’s a victim of those who profit from the drug trade,” he stated.

He explained that the real threat lies in the distributors, who often operate within communities and supply bulk quantities of drugs such as tramadol to young people.

“They take delivery of bulk supplies of tramadol, and they sell them to our children,” he said, adding that such actors must be identified and removed from society.

President Mahama called on traditional authorities to leverage their influence to mobilise communities against the trade, stressing that collaboration with security agencies would be key to rooting out offenders.

“We must identify these people and root them out so that we can stop the supply of these drugs within traditional areas,” he said.

He reiterated that tackling drug abuse requires both enforcement and community accountability, with chiefs playing a central role in protecting young people and safeguarding public health.