By Lisa R. White, CEO, Genesys Communications Consulting
Liberia’s Multi-Sectoral Committee on Drugs and Substance Abuse concluded its two-day strategic session this week with renewed commitments to combat the nation’s escalating drug crisis. Health Minister Dr. Louise Mapleh Kpoto declared participants would “leave here with a clearer roadmap” featuring stronger enforcement, expanded rehabilitation services, and accelerated prevention programs.
Amid all the technical discussions and policy frameworks, one crucial element appears conspicuously absent: a comprehensive communications strategy.
The committee’s roadmap reads like a textbook response to a public health emergency—enhanced law enforcement operations, scaled-up treatment services, vocational training for recovering users, and prevention programs in schools and communities. These are necessary components of any serious anti-drug effort. But without a strategic communications plan to inform, educate, and engage the public, even the most well-intentioned initiatives risk operating in a vacuum.
This oversight is particularly troubling given Liberia’s current drug crisis. Nearly $3.5 million has been allocated in the 2024 and 2025 budgets for at-risk youth programs, including the “Kush Must Go” campaign. Yet, how many Liberians are aware of the available treatment resources?
How many parents recognize the warning signs of substance abuse? How many communities understand their role in prevention efforts? Without deliberate communication strategies, these questions remain unanswered, and vital resources remain underutilized.
The committee did establish emergency hotlines—07773677740 and 0881950663—but simply creating phone numbers isn’t a communication strategy. True strategic communication requires proactive engagement: sustained messaging campaigns that build awareness, shift attitudes, and drive behavioral change across society.
Consider the contrasting examples of two major public health campaigns. Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign, launched in the 1980s, became one of the most recognizable anti-drug slogans in history. By 1988, more than 12,000 “Just Say No” clubs were established nationally. The Reagan Foundation points to encouraging statistics: cocaine uses by high school seniors dropped by one-third, from 6.2 percent in 1986 to 4.3 percent.
Yet, the campaign’s legacy remains deeply contested. Research has not established a direct relationship between the Just Say No campaign and reduced drug use, and no evidence exists to demonstrate that the program was effective. Critics argue that the campaign reduced a complex issue to a catch phrase, and there is no evidence that the campaign was effective in lowering experimental substance use in children and young people.
Contrast this with Liberia’s “Ebola Must Go” campaign during the 2014-2016 epidemic. This homegrown communication strategy succeeded where many international efforts struggled because it understood what effective health communication requires. The campaign “aimed to shift responsibility for eradicating the disease to community efforts,” but it did so through culturally relevant messaging delivered by trusted community leaders.
The “Ebola Must Go” campaign worked because it recognized that effective communication isn’t just about catchy slogans—it’s about cultural competence, trusted messengers, and community empowerment. Communities like New Georgia Signboard developed their task forces, held weekly educational gatherings at churches, and implemented aggressive self-monitoring programs.
Religious leaders became health advocates. Traditional authorities reinforced safety protocols. Communities took ownership of the response because the messaging respected their agency rather than talking down to them.
These contrasting experiences offer Liberia valuable lessons. Simple slogans and moral exhortations aren’t enough. Effective communication strategies must be evidence-based, culturally appropriate, and tailored to specific audiences. They must acknowledge the complex socioeconomic factors driving drug use rather than reducing the issue to individual choice alone. Most importantly, they must be integrated into every aspect of policy implementation; not treated as an optional add-on.
Strategic communication should inform citizens about available resources—where to seek treatment, how to access prevention programs, and what support services exist for families affected by addiction. It should educate communities about the warning signs of substance abuse and empower them to respond appropriately. It should challenge the stigma that prevents people from seeking help and promote messages of recovery and hope.
Moreover, communication strategies must reach beyond traditional media. In Liberia’s diverse linguistic landscape, messages must be crafted in local languages and delivered through trusted community channels. Religious leaders, traditional authorities, youth organizations, and civil society groups all have vital roles to play in amplifying anti-drug messages and creating social norms that discourage substance abuse.
The Multi-Sectoral Committee’s technical approach—establishing working groups, tracking usage trends through information systems, and coordinating between agencies—represents important infrastructure building. But infrastructure without communication is like building roads without road signs. People won’t know where to go or how to get there.
Liberia has executed successful health communication campaigns. The nationwide “Ebola Must Go” effort demonstrated that when messages are culturally relevant, delivered through trusted community channels, and designed to empower rather than lecture, they can drive real behavioral change. The same principles that helped communities like New Georgia Signboard take ownership of Ebola prevention can be applied to drug prevention and treatment.
President Joseph Boakai has declared that “Liberia will not lose another generation to drugs, not on my watch”. This bold promise requires more than policy papers and budget allocations. It demands a sustained commitment to reaching every Liberian with the information, resources, and support they need to combat substance abuse in their communities.
As Minister Kpoto noted, “the fight against substance abuse is not a two-day exercise”. Neither should communication about it be. Strategic communication isn’t something to consider after policies are designed and programs are launched. It’s the connective tissue that makes everything else work—the mechanism through which good intentions become public awareness, policy frameworks become community action, and government programs become social movements.
The Multi-Sectoral Committee still has time to correct this oversight. As they move forward with implementing their roadmap, they must recognize that communication strategy isn’t an afterthought—it’s a cornerstone of effective governance and public health programming.
Just as Liberia established coordinated communication structures during the Ebola crisis, the committee should commission a Multi-Sectoral Communication Secretariat dedicated to driving anti-drug awareness campaigns.
This secretariat would ensure consistent messaging across government ministries, agencies, and national and international organizations. During the Ebola response, everyone was on the same page—from the Ministry of Health to community leaders and international partners. The same unified communication approach is essential for combating the drug crisis.
Without such coordination, even the most comprehensive anti-drug initiatives risk becoming elaborate exercises in talking to themselves.
Liberia’s drug crisis demands urgency, resources, and political will. But most of all, it requires the ability to reach every citizen with a clear, consistent message: help is available, recovery is possible, and no one fights addiction alone. That message won’t deliver itself.
