Pharmacy Board and Police embark on joint drug-control sensitisation drive across Kailahun District

Officials from the Pharmacy Board of Sierra Leone in a coordinated effort with the Sierra Leone Police Force have concluded a comprehensive sensitisation exercise across Kailahun District in the Eastern Province covering six administrative divisions in a bid to educate local authorities community leaders and law-enforcement personnel on the terms of a recently formalised Memorandum of Understanding governing drug control the suppression of drug peddling and the enforcement of applicable bye-laws within the district.

The exercise which spanned the Segbwema Daru Pendembu Kailahun Bouedu and Koindu Divisions formed part of a broader institutional effort to embed the provisions of the MOU at the grassroots level — ensuring that officers stationed in remote border and interior areas are fully conversant with their mandates the legal framework underpinning joint enforcement and the specific bye-laws applicable to the district.

DIVISIONS COVERED IN THE EXERCISE

▸ Segbwema Division

▸ Daru Division

▸ Pendembu Division

▸ Kailahun Division

▸ Bouedu Division

▸ Koindu Division

The MOU entered into between the Pharmacy Board and the Sierra Leone Police Force establishes a formal inter-agency framework for the joint regulation of pharmaceutical products the identification and prosecution of illegal drug peddlers and the enforcement of district-level bye-laws targeting the unlicensed trade in controlled and prescription medicines. The familiarisation exercise was designed to translate these institutional commitments into on-the-ground operational knowledge for personnel deployed across Kailahun's geographically dispersed communities.

"Enforcement without understanding is no enforcement at all — these communities deserve officers and regulators who know the law they are upholding."

Kailahun District which shares an international border with both Guinea and Liberia has long been identified as a vulnerable corridor for the illicit movement of pharmaceutical products including prescription-only medicines and controlled substances that circulate informally across border markets. The district's six divisions — spanning densely forested interior chiefdoms and border trading towns — present particular regulatory challenges and the joint sensitisation exercise was calibrated to address the distinct enforcement contexts of each area visited.

In Segbwema and Daru — towns with established market infrastructure — participants were briefed on the identification of unlicensed pharmaceutical vendors and the procedures for reporting and seizure under the MOU framework. In the border divisions of Bouedu and Koindu emphasis was placed on cross-border trafficking patterns and the bye-laws governing the importation and sale of medicines at informal entry points. Pendembu and Kailahun town as divisional administrative centres received detailed briefings on record-keeping obligations inter-agency communication protocols and the referral of prosecutorial matters to the appropriate authorities.

Pictorial evidence of the visits was documented throughout the exercise providing an institutional record of the geographic reach of the sensitisation drive and the communities and personnel engaged.

The initiative is broadly regarded as a significant step toward harmonising drug regulation and policing in a district that has historically operated with limited institutional oversight of pharmaceutical distribution. By anchoring the MOU's provisions within a structured familiarisation exercise both the Pharmacy Board and the Sierra Leone Police signal a shared commitment to rule-based community-informed enforcement — one that respects local bye-laws while meeting national regulatory standards.

Stakeholders have expressed cautious optimism that the exercise will yield measurable improvements in drug-control outcomes across Kailahun District particularly in reducing the availability of unregulated medicines in informal markets and enhancing inter-agency cooperation at the divisional level. Further monitoring and follow-up engagements are anticipated as the MOU enters its operational phase.