A criminologist at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Dr Jones Opoku-Ware, has warned that Ghana's growing drug problem is no longer only a criminal justice issue but has developed into a public health crisis that requires urgent national attention.

Speaking on Joy FM's Super Morning Show on Monday, July 27, during a discussion on the JoyNews Hotline documentary, Deadly Doses II, Dr Opoku-Ware said the country's drug landscape had changed significantly over the years, making the trade and abuse of narcotics increasingly difficult to detect and control.

"It is not just a criminal act as we probably used to have it sometimes, but now it is becoming a public or, in fact, it's even become a public health crisis for which all of us as a country have to be very worried about," he said.

According to him, one of the most worrying developments is the rapid evolution of the illegal drug trade, with traffickers and users adopting new methods that are harder for authorities to monitor.

"I think that what is even more worrying is the fact that over the years, there seems to be a gradual shift in the way we used to know substance abuse and drug dealings in the country," he said.

Dr Opoku-Ware explained that while drug trafficking in the past followed patterns that security agencies could monitor to some extent, the situation has changed dramatically.

"The mere fact that there is this latent metamorphosis of the drug dealings in the country and abuse is what worries me more," he said.

He said that the new methods of distributing and abusing drugs have made it much more difficult for law enforcement agencies to trace those involved.

"Now we have a system in place that is very difficult to track. And the kind of people that are being introduced to this kind of system that we have now, in terms of the drug dealings, it worries me because even the ones that were somehow done in a way that we could track, we were finding problems in tracking them. How much more those that we are dealing with in a way that is very difficult to track?"

The criminologist also expressed concern about the growing number of young people affected by substance abuse.

He said available research indicates that people within the country's youthful population account for most substance abuse cases, making the situation even more alarming.

"Looking at the patterns as we are seeing it now, some research has even suggested that youth... are mostly those that are suffering from substance abuse disorder," he said.

"And so if you have this pattern reflected in the youth or among the youth in a country, it tells you that we really have a grave issue and for which all of us as a country will need to come together."

During the discussion, the programme host asked whether drugs such as cannabis and Tramadol were still the most abused substances or whether new drugs had emerged on the market.

In response, Dr Opoku-Ware said the country was witnessing a shift from the abuse of individual drugs to the widespread mixing of different substances to produce stronger effects.

"Typically, when we talk about drugs in the country, we used to know what we call 'psychedelic drugs'. We had hashish; we used to have cocaine and then marijuana," he said.

"But what is happening is that now we are having a culture of normal drug combinations."

He explained that synthetic drugs, including Tramadol and other painkillers, are now being mixed with medicines such as cough syrups and other substances to create new combinations.

"You have people mixing different types of drugs to produce a certain kind of effect on their bodies and also on their brain," he said.

"So now it's becoming very difficult for you to even have a scientific name for them because what is happening is people mixing different sets of drugs."

Giving an example, he said, "People could mix Tramadol with even drugs like cough mixtures and all that to give them a certain kind of effect."

According to him, the trend is changing the country's drug landscape because users continue to experiment with different combinations depending on the effects they want to achieve.

"We are seeing a gradual change and evolution in the drug-dealing landscape so that we have different types of drugs now being abused," he said.

He explained that many of the new drug mixtures are created within local communities, making them difficult for authorities to identify or classify.

"Within the localised context and within local areas, these people are just experimenting with different types of drugs and combining them to get the effect that they want," he said.

When asked why users were mixing different drugs, Dr Opoku-Ware said the reasons varied and, in many cases, could only be inferred.

"Some are probably for sexual strength and all that. Some are also for reducing certain tensions within their bodies, and some of them, to get over depression."

He added that because users continue to experiment with new combinations of painkillers and synthetic drugs, authorities may never have a complete list of the substances currently being abused.

"There are a number of these drugs that are coming up, and, as I said, we may not be able to even put our hands on these, besides the popular ones that we are known to have," he said.

Illicit substances are increasingly reaching schools, university campuses and popular food and drinks consumed by young people.

Part Two of Deadly Doses: Ghana’s Growing Drug Crisis reveals how traffickers are moving beyond the open sale of narcotics in drug ghettos. Marijuana, opioids and other substances are now being concealed in products such as sobolo, brownies and gummies, making them more difficult to detect.