A 2025 international assessment says heroin arriving in Ghana is repackaged and shipped onward to American markets, raising questions about port and airport controls.
Ghana is being used as both a transit route and a destination market for heroin, with most of the drug traced back to Afghanistan, according to the 2025 Global Organized Crime Index.
The findings were reported by Daily Guide Network. The Index is an international assessment that scores countries on the strength of their criminal markets and the actors behind them.
The heroin route
The report says heroin is often brought into Ghana by East African nationals. Some of it is consumed locally, but the larger share is repackaged and exported to the United States by Ghanaian nationals.
That detail matters for Ghanaians in the diaspora, because it places Ghana directly on a supply line into American cities rather than treating it as a distant waypoint.
The Index also names Ghanaian trafficking networks, working alongside Nigerian groups, as significant players in the growth of the heroin trade across West Africa.
It raises concern about corrupt officials helping consignments move through Ghana's seaports and airports.
Where heroin distribution and use were once concentrated in Accra and Tema, the report believes the market has now spread nationwide, including rural communities in northern Ghana.
On its scoring scale, Ghana recorded 5.50 for the heroin trade, an overall criminality score of 5.77 and a criminal markets score of 6.03.
Cocaine and the Tema Port
The assessment also lists Ghanaian organised crime groups among major participants in the global cocaine trade.
Brazil remains the main source of cocaine shipped by sea into Ghana, often hidden in sugar containers and routed through trans-shipment points such as Spain or Turkey. Tema Port is the principal entry point, with Takoradi used less frequently.
Notably, the report says cocaine seizures and media reporting on the trade have both fallen. It cites law enforcement officers and civil society figures who believe political protection for illicit markets by parts of government explains the drop in visible trafficking.
The Index presents that as the view of those stakeholders, not as a confirmed finding of its own.
Cannabis and synthetic drugs
Ghana is described as a prominent cannabis cultivation area in Africa, with growth expanding after the country allowed cannabis for specified health and industrial uses. Part of that increase is attributed to confusion about what the new law actually permits.
Cannabis now accounts for the bulk of drug interdictions in Ghana, with significant seizures at Accra International Airport and in border towns. The United Kingdom is identified as the main destination for Ghanaian cannabis exports, with other North American and European markets also drawing demand for high-THC strains.
On synthetic drugs, Tramadol abuse and trafficking remain a concern. The drug is mainly imported from India, and while use is said to be declining, the illegal trade has been linked to rising violence. Precursor chemicals meant for legitimate industry are also being diverted to criminal networks.
The Northern, Western and Volta Regions are flagged as hotspots for synthetic drug use and trafficking.
Ghana is further described as a transit point for methamphetamine moving from Nigeria to South Africa. Repeated suspicions of meth production inside Ghana remain unconfirmed. Trafficking of ephedrine, a precursor chemical used to make methamphetamine, mostly heads to facilities in Nigeria, though those flows have reportedly declined.
