Your Local Brew Contains More Than Just Herbs
By Dr. Ato Kwamena Danso · 17 October 2025 · Politics
I write to you not just as a concerned professional, but as a deeply disturbed consumer of baffling toxicology reports. I was briefly in Ghana, and my curiosity about the "active ingredients" in our local drinks grew, shall we say, dangerously high. You see, I spend my days working with young men who are, for want of a better word, "hooked." When I secured a gig with a non-profit, my first mission was simple: test our famed local beverages. Some of these drinks, marketed as mere food supplements, are lauded for "doing wonders." I now know exactly what wonders they're doing. This whole enterprise began when a frantic gentleman called me last year. Despite his personal assurance that he was completely clean, he had failed a pre-employment urine toxicological screening. The only thing he could recall? Trying some local "herbs" in Ghana for his back pain. He remembered great sleep and morning energy, a clear indication that it was working! We ran our own kit, and the results were a cocktail of controlled chaos: amphetamine, PCP, THC, and benzodiazepine. It appears his back pain remedy was less "herbal tea" and more "pharmacy in a bottle."Just yesterday, I tested samples of two popular sachets: Mandingo and Herb Afrik. The results were not just positive; they were positively terrifying. Herb Afrik contained benzodiazepine, PCP, and MDMA, a relaxing, party-drug mix , all in one convenient pouch! Mandingo contained PCPOne wonders no longer why the youth "get a buzz." They aren't getting a buzz; they are being chemically manipulated with a terrifying medley of street drugs. At this point, I have to question the entire operation: What, precisely, is GIHOC Distilleries distilling, and what, for the love of public health, is the FDA doing? If the FDA is in cohoot with manufacturers who are effectively deceiving Ghanaians with these high-proof, high-drug concoctions, then you might be right. It's a stark piece of irony: the same GIHOC whose drinks are allegedly laced with illicit drugs is dedicating space on their website to a breast cancer campaign. It's about time we put all these local drinks to a test, Alomo next ?? Alarmed, Ato KD