The Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) is a
Ghana
Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...
ian agency under the
Ministry of Interior
An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement.
In some states, th ...
.
It is the agency concerned with the formulation and enforcement of
narcotics
The term narcotic (, from ancient Greek ναρκῶ ''narkō'', "I make numb") originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with numbing or paralyzing properties. In the United States, it has since become associated with opiates ...
laws in the country. The board's work is aimed at preventing the use, import, and export of narcotics.
Functions
The agency has three main functions, supervised by the Interior Ministry.
[ The functions consist of the following:
#Enforcement and control of narcotic control laws in the country
#Education and prevention of the use of narcotics
#Treatment, rehabilitation and social re-integration of narcotic addicts.
The board regularly has inspectorates at various entry points of the country, particularly airports and seaports. Regular sweeps are conducted on ]marine vessel
A watercraft or waterborne vessel is any vehicle designed for travel across or through water bodies, such as a boat, ship, hovercraft, submersible or submarine.
Types
Historically, watercraft have been divided into two main categories.
*Raf ...
s and on passengers at airports as part of security checks.During these inspections, if any suspected narcotic products are found, they are confiscated by the board and tested to determine their substance. The offenders are then brought before the courts to face legal proceedings. The confiscated narcotic products are subsequently destroyed to prevent their redistribution. One such burning was done in June 2010 when the board destroyed 167 kilograms of seized cocaine at the Teshie
Teshie is a coastal town in the Ledzokuku Municipal District, a district in the Greater Accra Region of southeastern Ghana. Teshie is the ninth most populous settlement in Ghana, with a population of 171,875 people.
Politics
Teshie is in t ...
Shooting Range in Accra
Accra (; or ''Gaga''; ; Ewe: Gɛ; ) is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , had a population of ...
.
In 2009, NACOB announced a one-year campaign "to raise public awareness of the harmful effects of illicit drugs on the economic, social, political and cultural aspects of the country and its security."
Collaborations with other agencies
NACOB forms partnerships with other agencies both in and outside of Ghana. One such collaboration led to the formation of the Operation West Bridge project in 2007, which was introduced at Ghana's Kotoka International Airport
Kotoka International Airport is an international airport in Accra, the capital of Ghana. The airport is operated by Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL), which has its offices on the airport property. Until the upgrading of the Tamale and Ku ...
by the UK government. This collaboration has led to the interception of illicit drugs worth 214 million
1,000,000 (one million), or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian ''millione'' (''milione'' in modern Italian), from ''mille'', "thousand", plus the ...
British pounds
Sterling (Currency symbol, symbol: Pound sign, £; ISO 4217, currency code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound is the main unit of account, unit of sterling, and the word ''Pound (cu ...
since its inception.
Successes
NACOB in combating narcotic drug trafficking organizes training programmes for its staff and gathers intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...
on the illicit drug trade.[ One of the board's successes came in 2004 when the Customs Office of the United Kingdom commended the board for seizing 42 ]kilograms
The kilogram (also spelled kilogramme) is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand grams. It has the unit symbol kg. The word "kilogram" is formed from the combination of the metric prefix kilo- (m ...
of cocaine
Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...
concealed in sacks of rice imported from Guyana at Tema
Tema is a city on the Bight of Benin and Atlantic coast of Ghana. It is located east of the capital city; Accra, in the region of Greater Accra, and is the capital of the Tema Metropolitan District. As of 2013, Tema is the eleventh most p ...
Port in two 20-foot containers in September 2003.
Challenges
Problems that faces the board include the lack of adequate resources as well as remuneration for law enforcement personnel.
See also
* Opioid addiction in Ghana
* Ministry of Interior (Ghana)
References
{{authority control
1993 establishments in Ghana
Drug control law enforcement agencies
Government agencies established in 1993
Government ministries of Ghana
Law enforcement in Ghana