By Precious D. Freeman
Two disadvantage youths are pleading with the government to help rescue them because they are tired with drugs addicted life.
During an interview with Velme Port and Mohammed Kanneh, they both explained that they got addicted with drugs through their best friends decades ago.
These two individuals spotted transporting garbage from central Monrovia to Palm Grove Cemetery, known as Center Street Graveyard, reside in the Pelham Building adjacent to the cemetery.
The have been grappling with life’s tragedies for over one and a half decades.
Yesterday, Velme Port, one of the disadvantaged youths, took the initiative to share his entire life story of drug addiction, appealing to the Liberian government and other individuals for assistance in redirecting his life path from drug smuggling to a more conventional existence.
Velme Port recounted how he was introduced to drugs by his trusted best friend during his high school days ultimately succumbing to peer pressure and neglect from family members. He admitted willingly accepting the offer, unaware that it could lead to a downward spiral in his life.
According to port, peer pressure play a significant role in his drug addicted life, as his friends encouraged him to partake in illicit activities to maintain their status.
“I was in twelfth grade when my friends started encouraging me to take drugs and follow their path. I willingly accepted, disregarding advice from my parents and family members, I was subsequently expelled from my parents’ home and felt that I was on the right path,” he narrated.
After realizing the misery of his drug-addicted life over two decades later, port expressed regret over wasting time and dedicated himself to collecting garbage for minimal cash to sustain his addiction while waiting for death.
Port voiced willingness to change his life and seek rehabilitation, particularly in carpentry, to lead a peaceful existence.
Velme Port graduated from Isaac A. David’s Memorial School at ELWA junction in 2006 and has since spent over two decade on the streets. His father’s passing further intensified his circumstances, leaving him to consider himself living in the slums, while his mother currently resides in Nigeria.
Narrating his own story, Mohamed Kanneh is another individual who was victimized to the allure of narcotics after his high school graduation in Grand Bass County, Influenced by the same friends with whom he graduated with.
Having graduated from W.P.L. Brumskin United Methodist High School in Grand Bassa County On June 28, 2020, Mohamed recounted his story through tear-filled eyes, lamenting the hardships life has dealt him.
He recalled how his friend, Theophilus Y. Bedell, now a car loader at the Monrovia junction in Grand Bassa County invited him for a celebration during their graduation but unknowingly leading him into a small hut with dubious intentions.
Inside the hut, Mohamed was shocked to see a setup seemed like an initiation ceremony where Theophilus instructed him to approach a pan cover with a white cloth, beneath which lay the substance and he was instructed to inhale four to five times before leaving.
Mohamed describe his first experience with drugs as disorienting, with his senses thrown into turmoil. “My first time inhaling drugs, I was confused and felt like I was in another world. My perception was completely distorted” he recounted.
Mohamed has since made a heartfelt plead to the government to help rescue him from his messy life in order to accomplish his dream.
