07/01/2026
Tamale Is Not Winning the War on Drugs; Enforcement Alone Is Not Enough
The growing drug abuse menace in Tamale, particularly among the youth, is a matter of serious concern. In response, security agencies, special police units, and community task forces have intensified swoops, arrests, and crackdowns on drug users and peddlers. While this approach deserves commendation for its urgency and intent, it remains fundamentally incomplete.
The current strategy focuses almost entirely on supply; those who sell drugs and those caught abusing them, while leaving the demand side largely untouched. This imbalance, in my view, makes the fight against drug abuse unsustainable.
Drug abuse is not merely a criminal problem; it is also a public health and social problem. Any serious attempt to address it must confront both sides of the equation: supply and demand. When demand remains high, supply will always find a way. Drug peddlers are nothing if not innovative; they will adapt routes, methods, and networks to meet existing demand. Arrests alone may disrupt the trade temporarily, but they do not dismantle it.
However, if demand is significantly reduced; through education, rehabilitation, and reintegration, the economics of the drug trade change. When drugs no longer sell, when the market shrinks, the incentive to supply them diminishes. In such a context, even if drugs are offered cheaply or freely, informed and rehabilitated young people are far less likely to accept them.
At present, Tamale lacks a clearly identifiable and functional rehabilitation framework. There is no well-known rehabilitation centre that families can turn to when their children are addicted. There is no public assurance that individuals arrested for drug use are being sent for treatment rather than punishment. Until we can confidently say, “If your child is addicted, bring them here for help,” our response remains reactive rather than transformative.
More troubling is the way enforcement disproportionately affects the wrong actors. Many of the young men arrested in forests or on the streets, selling or using small quantities of drugs, are not the true beneficiaries of this trade. They are, in many respects, its victims. Addiction has already stripped them of agency, opportunity, and dignity. Imprisonment alone does not cure addiction; it often deepens it.
Meanwhile, the real beneficiaries,the financiers and major suppliers remain largely invisible, insulated by wealth, influence, and distance. These are the individuals living comfortably, driving expensive cars, and profiting handsomely from a system that destroys lives at the bottom. A drug policy that punishes victims while failing to dismantle elite profiteering raises serious questions about justice and effectiveness.
My is argument against law enforcement. On the contrary, enforcement is necessary. But it must be complemented, not substituted, by rehabilitation and education. A balanced strategy would include:
1. Well-funded rehabilitation centres in Tamale
2. Structured diversion programmes for drug users
3.Public education campaigns targeting young people
4. Community-based reintegration support
Until rehabilitation becomes as visible and prioritized as arrests, the fight against drug abuse in Tamale will remain cyclical;raids today, relapse tomorrow.
If we truly want to solve this problem, we must stop treating addiction solely as a crime and start confronting it as the social and human crisis that it is.
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Moh Salifu
