The Deputy Director of the Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC), Alexander Twum-Barima, has raised concerns over what he describes as a growing and deeply troubling shift in drug consumption patterns among tertiary students in the country.

He disclosed that there is an emerging rise in cannabis-infused food products, particularly the popular local delicacy of egg and pepper, with reports indicating that such items are increasingly circulating on tertiary education campuses.

"This egg and pepper, the normal egg and pepper that they sell by the roadside, has cannabis infused in it," he disclosed on JoyFM's Super Morning Show on Thursday, June 25.

"It is very difficult to understand why someone who is in the university will decide to set up a stand during school activity time, and what he or she is doing is not giving out books, or flyers, educational related to colleagues, rather he or she decides to sell an infused-cannabis product. So you go to that stand to buy ice cream, and that ice cream you are buying is cannabis infused," he added.

According to him, the trend reflects a broader diversification in the concealment and distribution of cannabis derivatives, moving beyond conventional forms into everyday snacks that are harder to detect and regulate.

He warned that the development presents significant public health and regulatory risks, especially within academic environments where young people may be exposed without full awareness of the substances involved.

The Narcotics Control Commission, he noted, is strengthening surveillance and expanding sensitisation efforts in educational institutions as part of a strategic response to curb the evolving threat.