Reverend Lawrence Kwesi Tete
Reverend Lawrence Kwesi Tete, Director for Ecumenical and Social Relations of the Ga Presbytery on Sunday adivised the public to guard against the usage of alcohol and hard drugs, as their continuous usage haves negative health implications.
Rev. Tete who is also the Minister in charge of Grace Presbyterian Church Community 11, Tema, preaching the sermon to commemorate the Blue Cross, noted that the Ghana Blue Cross engages in the fight against alcohol and the misuse of other drugs through advocacy of policies education, and counselling to stem the tides.
The Ghana Blue Cross Society now the Ghana Blue Cross, began in the then Gold Coast as the “Anidaho Fekuo” (Temperance Movement) at Aburi by Dr. Rudolf Fisch, a medical officer of the then Basel Mission in 1906.
The Presbyterian Church of Ghana, being the successor Christian organisation of the Basel Mission, has since been supporting the activities of the organisation through the supply of funding and human resource.
The Ghana Blue Cross is an affiliate of the International Blue Cross (IBC) and the oldest Blue Cross Organisation formed outside Europe and the first in Africa.
Rev. Tete noted that the celebration of the Blue Cross was an occasion to advise members of the Church and the public against the use of drugs and alcohol.
Quoting from Ephesians 5: 18, the Presbyterian Minister said; “do not be filled with wine which leads to debauchery, rather be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Rev. Tete, said that a lot of people drink alcohol and other related hard drugs for pleasure and as a way of releasing tension and stress of life, at home, work places among others whilst others also drink to suppress pain, agony or supposedly gain more strength to do extra work.
Rev. Tete advised against various adverts on some traditional and social media about foreign and local drugs, which boosted sexual efficacies of sex life, and called the appropriate authorities to let law deal with such people.