MONROVIA, Liberia — Girls’s teams on Thursday led a protest of 1000’s of individuals in opposition to a rampant drug drawback in Liberia, urging the federal government to declare a nationwide emergency over the disaster and implement stricter punishment for drug abuse.
Marching via the capital, Monrovia, with banners and flags, the demonstrators introduced a petition at parliament that known as for a particular court docket for drug instances and to extend the jail time period for first-degree drug-related felonies to a minimal of 20 years — at the moment the utmost time period restrict.
The Affiliation of Feminine Legal professionals of Liberia, in the meantime, launched a public marketing campaign on Wednesday in opposition to drug use and deployed members to hold out sensitization campaigns in communities.
One in 5 youths in the West African country are utilizing illicit medicine with greater than 800 hubs generally known as “medicine dens” positioned throughout the capital, in response to the Liberia Drug Enforcement Company, an analogous drawback in a few of its neighbors in Africa like Sierra Leone. The commonest drug within the area is kush, an affordable, artificial drug found to contain opioids which can be typically lethal.
Addressing the drug disaster was a key marketing campaign promise of President Joseph Boakai earlier than his election in late 2023. Activists, nevertheless, accuse him of not doing sufficient to sort out the issue.
“We’re elevating our voices in opposition to the mockery of President Boakai’s guarantees to rescue Liberia’s youth from the scourge of habit,” in response to a press release from the ladies’s teams of three of the nation’s political events which can be a part of the continuing marketing campaign.
Bowoulo Taylor Kelley, one of many leaders of the feminine legal professionals, mentioned that the drug disaster is “destroying the way forward for our youth and ladies are bearing the brunt.”
Joanna Jah, a resident who mentioned her son is a sufferer of the drug disaster, was amongst Thursday’s protesters.
“We now have tried all the pieces to maintain them from the streets, but it surely has not labored,” Jah mentioned. “This is a chance to talk out loud — that’s why I took upon myself to type a part of the march.”