The Narcotics Control Commission has organised a two-day capacity building workshop for some selected non-governmental organisations focused on prevention.

The training programme in Universal Prevention Curriculum is to equip participants with a basic understanding of key prevention principles, ethics, and professional standards required to effectively address substance use and its related challenges.

The Director-General of the Narcotics Control Commission, Brigadier General Maxwell Obuba Mantey in his remarks stressed the need to collaborate with the selected Non-Governmental Organisations in a bid to reach the youth in every community with information on the effects of substance abuse.

“Children abuse drugs sometimes because they don’t know the effect. My focus is on the youth, particularly the students.

Let’s engage them on the effects of these drugs and strive to reach every corner with education on these drugs”. DG said.

The Head of Education and Prevention at the Narcotic Control Commission, SNCO Kamaldeen Awudu explained that the training program is designed to equip participants on the basics of UPC and to ensure that their presentations align directly with that of NACOC.

NCO Sandra Abaka-Quansah, one of the resource persons at the Education and Prevention department at NACOC said “drug use goes beyond attitude”, adding that “substance use prevention is not a moral failure but a disease”.

The Universal Prevention Curriculum for Substance Use aims to address the need for knowledgeable and competent professionals working in the prevention field.

This training series is designed to meet the current demand for an evidence-based curriculum for substance use prevention that would complement the existing universal treatment curriculum for Substance Use Disorders (UTC) for addiction treatment professionals.

It has been developed for managers and supervisors of government programs and community-based organizations as well as prevention practitioners for working in evidence-based prevention at the grassroots level.

The development of the UPC is in accordance with science-based information and skills-based prevention training and founded on the International Standards on Drug Use Prevention developed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

It is written by prevention researchers who are specialists in substance use epidemiology and evaluation, and in prevention strategies that are delivered to families; within schools, workplace and community; and through the media and regulatory policies.
The primary thrust is evidence-based interventions and policies and implementation quality and sustainability.