What the opioids boom in Ghana says about the cocaine circus

It is exactly two months ago that the BBC dropped a bombshell documentary about dangerous opioids flooding some West African countries like Ghana.

What was bizarre about the video was the involvement of otherwise respectable companies in what is essentially a trade in poisons. I was led to conclude that these dangerous drugs were not being smuggled into Ghana. They were being imported and distributed in plain sight.

What followed after the documentary’s release was nothing short of bizarre. The main Ghanaian pharmaceutical regulator, the FDA, appeared to confirm that the kingpin exporter of these opioids, Aveo, and its affiliates, especially Westfin, were registered business partners of Samospharma, the company cited in the documentary for importing and retailing some of the drugs through outlets bearing the brand of its award-winning e-pharma platform, DrugNet.

Samospharma exploded with fury, threatened to sue the BBC, and described the FDA’s registration records and public statement as bogus. It demanded a public retraction and an apology...........