Okyenhene Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin has called on regulatory agencies in the country to work hard to sanitize and finally put an end to the growing phenomenon of tramadol abuse in the country.
Addressing people of Asamankese during a durbar held in his honour to mark his 20th Anniversary on the Abuakwa stool, Okyenhene who cautioned the youth against illicit drugs called on regulatory agencies to up their game.
“There is something now making all the news they call tramadol and there is another one they have mixed together called (downdown). These are all agents of death. They will kill all those who love and use them. If you do not die today you will surely die in due time,” he added.
“I want to prophesy; if you take tramadol and you do not put a stop to it now you will die. If you also take ‘downdown’ and you do not stop, you will die before your time. So if you are not scared of death then you can continue and abuse them. We should be grateful always to God and appreciate the life he has given to us. In order for us to cherish it, we have to stay away from drugs”.
He told the gathering that “When you use these drugs you will only graduate to become a thief, because after taking the drugs it will influence you to go and steal and you will be sent to Nsawam prisons and when you end up there, you will not get access to the drugs again which will make you frustrated.”
“So please let’s advise our children, students and also advise the drug peddlers. There should be strict rules in place to have all those drug peddlers and traders arrested for good,” he advised.
Health Ministry bans codeine cough syrups, restricts access to tramadol
The Ministry of Health in November 2018 imposed a ban on the sale of codeine induced cough syrups and restricted access to tramadol induced drugs in pharmacies or chemical shops nationwide with immediate effect.
It said such drugs will not be reclassified and dispensed as “Prescription Only Medicines” and shall not be prescribed and dispensed at health facilities below the level of District Hospitals.
This comes after growing public concern over the abuse of tramadol and codeine in the country especially among young people.
The Food and Drugs Authority, at the time said, market surveillance would be intensified to ensure that the market is free from such drugs.