Guidance
Charitable Foundation, a nationally oriented campaigner on basic human needs,
on Saturday held sensatisation training on drug abuse for students of Kunkujang
Upper Basic School.
Speaking
on behalf of the principal of the school, Omar A Bojang hailed the magnanimity
of the foundation, noting that the participants were expected to demonstrate
their new skills in discouraging drug abuse among their peers.
Samba
S Njie of Guidance Charitable Foundation said the educational outreach
programme was among series of events intended to improve the quality of life of
people in The Gambia.
The
cluster monitor of Banjulinding, Abubacar Marreh, said the event was a
worthwhile extracurricular activity.
According
to him, the exercise indicates that learning does not only stop within the
classroom as is complementary to the classroom learning process of the school.
Baba
Manneh, a psychiatric nurse at the Tanka-Tanka Psychiatric Hospital, said the
abuse of drugs leads to spread of diseases, misery, and economic breakdown for
the abusers, their families and the community at large.
It
also causes corruption and violence, he added.
“The
most commonly abuse drug in the world is marijuana which is also called
cannabis, pot, weed, joint, or Jamba.
The drug which is locally grown and sometimes smuggled through borders
is a member of the hallucinogen family; it produces signs of depression and
aggression with high stimulant effect,” Mr Manneh said.
Other
drugs abused, he added, include cocaine also called crack or freebase,
inhalants in the form of hair spray, glue, deodorants or gasoline, heroine and
alcohol.
