Liberia's "Say No to Drugs" In Maryland County

Maryland County Women Organize ‘Say No to Drugs’ March

By Rocheford T. Gardiner
October 9, 2025

Harper, Maryland County –
Maryland County has joined the nationwide “Say No to Drugs” campaign in Liberia, with a vibrant march through the principal streets of the capital, Harper.
The event was organized by the Maryland County Women Associations and various local and international civil society groups, including Sister Cities International and the Foundation for a Drug-Free World, in collaboration with the Liberia Drug Enforcement Agency (LDEA). The Liberia National Police (LNP), and other security agencies of the Liberia Joint Security were also represented at the event.

Participants, including representatives from the LDEA, Joint Security, and local high schools, converged at the main gate of Tubman University in east Harper before marching to the central business district. They displayed placards and sang songs of unity throughout the route.
The Need for Logistical Support
Speaking at the beginning of the march, Maryland County LDEA Commander, Special Agent Moses Bah, noted that his agency’s efforts to get youths off the streets began even before the national campaign kicked off with a massive march in Monrovia on August 7, 2025.

Bah stated that his agency has managed to curb the use and sale of illicit drugs and substances in the county. While commending the central government’s support, he also used the occasion to appeal for more logistical resources.
For more than 12 years now, the LDEA in the county has not had a single patrol vehicle—save for a few motorcycles intermittently sent for patrolmen. The only rickety old pickup they have belonged to a former county commander.
The Liberia National Police faces a similar critical shortage of logistical support.
To successfully combat the growing drug crisis, Agent Bah emphasized the need for central government to prioritize training, logistics, and the bolstering of adequate manpower for all Joint Security departments in the county.



A Drug Transit Hub

Maryland County, with its Atlantic coastline and shared border with Ivory Coast, is frequently used as a transit hub for regional drug trafficking. The county has seen several incidents of illicit substances, particularly cocaine, drifting inland from sea vessels.

The latest major incident occurred in late January 2021 (during the administration of former President George Weah), when a British naval vessel cornered a suspected drug-carrying ship near Liberia’s territorial waters off Fish Town, Harper District.
The captain and crew of the suspect ship reportedly ditched their cargo into the sea, which subsequently drifted ashore on the beaches of Rock, Fish, and Middle towns—all adjacent communities along the western coast of Harper City.

This incident led to an influx of alleged drug dealers to Maryland County seeking to exploit the washed-up "spoils." There were also allegations that some Liberian security personnel participated in exploiting the "loot" as well, something which led to open and sometimes violent confrontations with locals who were the primary beneficiaries. Locals often retreated within the perimeters of their “traditional shrines, and openly dared state security to come arrest them.

Some Laudable Government Response

The incumbent government of President Joseph Boakai has, however, deployed a unit of the Liberia National Coast Guard (under the Armed Forces of Liberia) to the county. Furthermore, inventory teams have been dispatched to assess the possibility of rebuilding the military barracks near Harper’s A. Glen Tubman Airport.

This marks the first deployment of the Coast Guard in Maryland County since the outbreak of the Liberian civil war in December 1989. However, even the newly deployed Coast Guard unit currently lacks adequate logistics for effective sea patrol of the country’s territorial waters. Their single inflatable boat looks worn out and stays docked at the fishing pier mostly.