Coordinator of the Technical Secretariat of the Inter-ministerial Committee for the Fight against the Cultivation of Marijuana report CT.

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Mister Coordinator, what justifies the launching of the campaign against the cultivation, marketing and consumption of marijuana and other psychoactive substances?


I would like to start by thanking « Cameroon Tribune » for its interest in this crucial problem for our society and for which an alert was issued about two years ago by the highest authority of our country, in order to enable the commitment of the entire government, under the coordination of the Prime Minister, Head of Government, to take adequate measures to address the consequences of this plague in our society. You will probably understand that the intensification of the scope of this plague, its prevalence rate within the educated and uneducated youth component in our society, and the resulting social disintegration, account for the launching of this awareness-raising campaign, whose implementation is also recommended by the Committee’s action plan that is under review .


Has the Inter-ministerial Committee been able to establish the detrimental effects provoked by the cultivation marketing and consumption of drugs in Cameroon in the last two years?


I think it is necessary to first of all share with your readers, some figures in connection with the cultivation, trafficking and consumption of marijuana in particular and drugs in general for the last two years. In 2016, the quantity of marijuana seized and subject to legal proceedings stood at 427 kg for a total of 680 cases registered in court to this effect. In 2017, we recorded the same circumstances as before with 5999 kg of marijuana seized, representing a total confiscation increase from one year to the other of 1312 %. This results from the intensification of this plague, which calls for an intensification of the means to combat it, an analysis of the detrimental effects from a triple socio-economic, health and security levels. Thus, at the socio-economic level, there is a resulting disintegration of the social fabric of part of our youths whose vulnerability and dependence on these drugs exposes them to commit acts which destroy the family unit on which the stability and cohesion of the society is based. In this regard, it appears to be very difficult to dissociate the relationship between the trafficking and consumption of drugs, from social ills such as prostitution, terrorism, insecurity, academic failures and the criminal economy. Here, it is highly established that the exposure of youths to the trafficking and consumption of drugs is putting a strain on the health budgets of families, owed to the stays in hospitals or law enforcement bodies, and contributes to increase the demography of the socially maladjusted whose care is incumbent upon the State, which is already facing cash flow difficulties. At the health level, whether this consumption is occasional or chronic, victims experience a rapid deterioration of the mental structure which influences their behavior with major symptoms including, laziness, drowsiness, violence, memory problems, exposure to cardio-vascular diseases, sexually transmitted diseases particularly HIV/AIDS, when these drugs are consumed through injection with unsterilized syringes. At the security level, drug traffickers and consumers are exposed to violent and inexplicable acts, manipulation, instrumentalization and barbarism when they no longer have the means, which explains why they easily join criminal groups, insurrection or secessionist movements observed in certain regions of our country, and commit dehumanizing and murderous acts which are current in our country these days.


Who does this campaign target in particular?


With regard to the cultivation of cannabis, the entire national community is concerned by the issue, although available statistics show that the West, North West, and East Regions are reputed to be the major hubs where cannabis is produced.
The Centre, South and Littoral Regions are involved to an extent. With regard to trafficking, it is well known that it is in the Littoral and South West Regions, otherwise reputed to be the transit zones, that we registered the highest level of trafficking of cannabis and other illicit drugs. As Concerns consumption, even though it is quite obvious that youths in major cities are most exposed, it is worth emphasising that all youths in Cameroon are the target of this sensitisation campaign, since available statistics drawn from the Ministry of Public Health clearly illustrate the subject. These figures show that 60% of youths, aged 20 to 25, regardless of their places of residence, have consumed drugs be they legal (alcohol, tobacco etc) or illicit (cannabis, unauthorised tramadol, Diazepam, benzodiapines, cocaine, etc); meanwhile, 12 000 school-going youths especially aged 13 to 15 consume cannabis which, it should be noted, is the most hard drug youths consume, followed by unauthorised tramol or tramadol. The repeated seizing of illegal drugs in schools these past months have made public authorities to seize the opportunity offered by the upcoming youth week, to create awareness within the education family, including parents and out-of-school youths, on the destructive effects of cultivating and consuming cannabis and other illegal drugs.


What have you to say to those who think that some youths consume illegal drugs because they are idle?


The State has the responsibility, both to set up a judicial and institutional mechanism that can truly dissuade defaulters and to provide conditions for the social insertion of youths at the end of their training. In this regard, in addition to Programs to be implemented by structures under the Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training and the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Government’s draft strategy for the fight against the cultivation, trafficking and consumption of cannabis and other psychoactive substances, has alternative activities to the cultivation of cannabis. These have to do with encouraging MINADER and MINEPIA to develop programs targeting youths by promoting the cultivation of alternative crops that are of a high marketing value and have a short production cycle as well as various forms of support in the areas of livestock farming and fishing.  In this perspective, the Support program to Young Farmers, the Program for the Improvement of the Competitiveness of Family Agropastoral Farms (ACEFA), the Support Program for the Renovation and Development of Vocational Training in the livestock, agricultural and fisheries sectors, accompanied by installation support and the Livestock Development Project, are instruments and facilities that Public Authorities have made available to the youth as a way of reducing idleness among youth. What is left for them to do is to meet the promoters of these programs in order to benefit from this support.


Is it really possible to effectively fight against the cultivation, marketing and consumption of drugs when we know that this is the means of livelihood of some citizens and when we also know that there is a lot of complicity in this area?


Inasmuch as promoting the alternative activities that I was referring to earlier will enable us to usefully occupy our young people, they will also enable those who derive income from the cultivation or trafficking of cannabis and other narcotics to find in these alternative programs sources of lawful income, especially as in agriculture, to take just this example, it was established that potatoes, okra, beans, pepper, onion and watermelon, are specimens with high market value as much as cannabis, which have production cycles as short as it, and can for some of them, grow on poor soils such as cannabis. Of course, there is a nebula surrounding the denunciations of cannabis cultivation and the complicit silence in this activity, but we are still hoping to overcome it, for in addition to the incentives that encourage migration to the lawful activities referred to above, the Government is considering the possibility of offering bonuses for denunciation and capture of all those involved in the incapacitation of any person engaged in the cultivation, trafficking and use of cannabis and other narcotics. We hope to tackle the root problem by reducing the supply of cannabis, whose constituents, five hundred (500) in total, are at the base of the manufacture of other drugs. Of course, at the same time, the Government is finalizing a reflection aimed at tightening the legislation on the repression of the cultivation, trafficking and consumption of narcotics, as well as the methods of destroying the seized drugs.


What do you expect from this campaign?


That the entire national community become aware of the economic cost of trafficking cannabis and other narcotics, and especially its social, health and safety consequences that can shake the foundation of our societal order and our nation.


What message are you addressing to the youth who constitute the main target of the campaign?


It is important that the young people who are preparing to celebrate the 52nd edition of the Youth Day on February 11, revolt against the corruption of their mentality through the consumption of narcotics. This is because, they are the main victims and by so doing they are compromising their future. On behalf of the Head of Government, I therefore invite them not only to stop the traffic and consumption of narcotics, but also to report to their parents or their supervisors, any of their comrades and friends found trafficking or consuming these substances which destroy their health. The vigilance of parents with regard to their offspring is also strongly encouraged, so that they closely monitor their companions, and quickly identify suspicious behaviors, allowing them to take appropriate measures to guard their children against its adverse effects.

Paul EBOA

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