An increasing number of Ghanaians are now using hard drugs as aphrodisiacs, a narcotic expert, Dr J. B. Asare, has said. He said some Ghanaians, particularly the youth, even resort to the use of cocaine as aphrodisiac to enhance their sexual performance and ability to socialise. The high incidence of drug abuse, he said, was the result of the use of Ghana as a transshipment centre. He said the problem of drug abuse had also been compounded by the fact that most of the abusers declined to visit psychiatric hospitals because of the stigma attached to visiting psychiatrist institutions. Dr Asare, who is also a member of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), told the Daily Graphic at the weekend that Ghana had a big problem of drug abuse and called for measures which would effectively deal with the increasing use of drugs and help treat and rehabilitate the users. He explained that although the hard drugs were not meant for the Ghanaian market, the dealers had to sell some in Ghana to enable them to payoff couriers, bribe corrupt public officials and meet the charges of packaging facilities, among others. "In so doing, we have seen an increasing use of drugs by the youth. A drug like cocaine is now seen as an aphrodisiac to enhance their sexual performance and for them to socialise. The danger is that they make sexual advances and engage in risky sexual behaviours," he said. Dr Asare, one time Chief Psychiatrist of the Ministry of Health, noted with regret that some of the drugs were being adulterated, resulting in untold effects on users as some of the users did not know exactly the kind of drugs they were consuming. He cited the case of a 26-year-old mother of two in Kumasi who had been on drugs for the past 11 years and who had to be given medical attention. Dr Asare said the lady said she had the two children, who were being looked after by their grandmother from "fleeting" relationships. According to him, the unemployed lady said she was spending GH¢20 daily on cocaine and that she got the money to support the habit from a boyfriend who was also on drugs. "When asked about how she felt on that day she missed her portion of the drugs, the symptoms she described were in conformity with heroin abuse than cocaine. As she insisted that she bought white powdered cocaine, it became obvious that she had either used cocaine adulterated with heroin or she did not know that she was using heroin," Dr Asare lamented. Dr Asare said the withdrawal symptoms of heroin/opiates were pains in the joints, severe abdominal pains with vomiting, diarrhoea or loose stools, coughing and shivering with "goose pimples" which users call 'cold turkey', yawning, and watery nose and eyes. That of cocaine, he said, was supposed to have no physical withdrawal symptoms but rather psychological symptoms manifesting in feeling unhappy, withdrawn and uneasy and with the craving for the drug to lift the mood. Dr Asare said the lady needed in-patient treatment but unfortunately, there was no place except at a psychiatric hospital. "Out of the 594 drug-related cases admitted to the Accra Psychiatric Hospital in 2007, 400 were cannabis-related, 141 alcohol-related and 53 were cocaine and heroin users," he said. "Certainly, there are more cases of people in the community using cocaine and heroin who want to stop but have few places outside psychiatric hospitals where they can receive some kind of attention. These cases need long-term treatment in an environment where their psychological, social and biological needs could be assessed to offer a comprehensive programme for withdrawal and management of their dependency on drugs and rehabilitation," he added. Dr Asare called on the government to seriously look into the matter of providing "a well equipped treatment centre for drug users, mostly young unemployed people in the communities, some of whom are delinquent and got embraced by the underground drug cult". He explained that the stigma attached to people visiting the psychiatric hospitals often prevented many people with drug-related problems from receiving medical attention. As a result, he said, some of the people using drugs who needed help remained in the communities with their plight getting worse by the day. He said in managing a drug-related patient, specialists needed to find out why the person was using the drugs, the effect on the person and the options available for the user. Dr Asare said unfortunately, these issues were often dealt with superficially at the psychiatric hospitals, resulting in the patients going back to the drugs because the problem was not dealt with holistically. Source: Daily Graphic