-At-Risk-Youth Tell ECOWAS Delegation, As they Plead for Rehabilitation
By Jerromie S. Walters
Monrovia: A group of at-risk youth living in Monrovia’s Pelham Building on Center Street appealed directly to a visiting ECOWAS delegation for urgent rehabilitation support and basic services. During the engagement on Tuesday, August 5, 2025, the youth described their extreme living conditions, including pregnant women being forced to give birth in makeshift gravesites they use as shelters, with their spokesperson stating plainly: “Most of our sisters can deliver in the void.” The youth acknowledged their struggles with drug addiction but emphasized that many turned to substances due to peer pressure and lack of alternatives, pleading for help rather than punishment.
The spokesperson outlined three critical needs for their community: immediate shelter to replace their destroyed living spaces, access to proper medical care especially for pregnant women, and comprehensive rehabilitation programs to help them rebuild their lives. He described how Liberia’s Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA) raids often leave them homeless by destroying their temporary shelters without providing solutions, while community leaders must scramble to collect money when pregnant women need emergency hospital care.
His words: “I want to say this to all of you that came. May God continue to touch your hearts because we need two important thing right now. We need transformation in the lives of our brothers and sisters. We need medication and we need shelter.” Ms. Thelma Konnah, another resident, supported these accounts and thanked the delegation for their visit but stressed the need for immediate action to address their desperate situation.
The prevalence of drug use among youth remains alarming, with recent studies suggesting that approximately 20% of young people in Liberia are using substances. 2 in 10 youth in Liberia are users of narcotic substances. In June of this year, the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA) reported that between 2024 and 2025, it (LDEA) seized nationwide a staggering 9,651.23 kilograms of narcotics with a combined street value exceeding $4.9 million (LRD 949 million).
The agency’s nationwide operations targeted a range of illegal substances, with the synthetic drug Kush accounting for the largest haul at 5,494.50 kilograms, valued at $2.3 million (LRD 405.5 million).
The youth plead comes as a high-level ECOWAS delegation conducted a field visit to Center Street in Monrovia, engaging directly with them ahead of the planned August 7 “Say No to Drugs” awareness march. The delegation, comprising Orlando Pereira Dias of Cape Verde and Senator Edwin Snowe, was joined by Monrovia City Mayor John Siafa during the open dialogue session with disadvantaged young people.
During the interactive meeting, Mayor Siafa urged the youth to access existing support services and maintain optimism about their recovery journey. The at-risk youth utilized the platform to openly discuss their personal struggles with addiction and the systemic challenges they face in accessing rehabilitation.
The ECOWAS representatives reiterated their dedication to pushing for enhanced drug treatment programs and coordinated regional efforts to combat narcotics trafficking. This community visit forms part of a broader week-long ECOWAS initiative in Liberia focused on drug abuse prevention and mental health advocacy, with activities building toward the major anti-drug march scheduled for August 7.
On 30 June 2022, the government of Liberia launched a national fund drive in support of a programme for the rehabilitation and empowerment of At-Risk Youth in Liberia by the Government in collaboration with the United Nations and partners. Unfortunately, this didn’t go as planned. Following his ascendancy to the presidency, President Joseph Nyuma Boakai declared drugs a national health crisis. However, drug addiction is becoming troubling by the day.
Between last year to this year, the LDEA also confiscated 4,040.02 kilograms of marijuana worth $369,098 (LRD 70.1 million), along with smaller but significant quantities of harder drugs. These included 32.69 kilograms of cocaine valued at $1.76 million (LRD 335.4 million), 11.95 kilograms of heroin worth $537,556 (LRD 70.1 million), and 68.73 kilograms of tramadol estimated at $144,413 (LRD 27.4 million). Additionally, the LDEA intercepted 3.4354 kilograms of precursor chemicals used in drug production, with an estimated worth of $8,109 (LRD 1.5 million).
