Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Freetown (Fides Service)- “The main problem in Sierra Leone is that there is no work. Drug abuse is an issue but not the main one” Father Giuseppe Berton, Italian Xaverian mission in Freetown, capital of Sierra Leone, told Fides. Two years have passed since the government established a National Drug Control Agency. “That was certainly an important step towards clamping down on the phenomenon” Father Berton said. “The drugs most used are produced locally, mainly Indian cannabis and marijuana. Some sort of stimulating drugs have always been part of local traditions to lessen the pains of hunger and fatigue something like cocaine leaves in South American Andes region countries”.
“Use of drugs began to spread before the civil war in the 1990s, mainly among young people who left rural villages in search of work in cities” Father Berton told Fides. “During the civil war there was drug abuse among soldiers but never at the level it has reached today”.
“Since the war stopped thousands and thousands of young men are out of a job and clearly some give in to the temptation of drugs. But the main issue is lack of employment” the missionary told Fides. “Farming is the main occupation but the young people refuse to go back to working the land. Working in the fields means being subject to father-boss. The young men prefer town life even with hardship”.
“The situation is unsustainable. Fifteen years ago in Freetown there were only a few hundred thousands, today it has a population of over 2 million. There is need of economic transformation to create jobs other than farming and at the same time to modernise farming at present mainly a subsistence system” Father Berton concluded. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 15/7/2004 righe 27 parole 335)
