Ghanaian dancehall star Shatta Wale has advised young people to choose their friends carefully, warning that the wrong company can expose them to drugs and lead to addiction.
He believes some people start using drugs not because they were interested at first, but because friends introduce them to substances and gradually persuade them to try stronger drugs.
During a TikTok Live session, Shatta Wale discussed how his upbringing influenced the way he views friendships. He said his father was very strict about letting him go out, and he now thinks that rule may have kept him away from harmful influences.
“Growing up, my father never allowed me to go out. In the system we are in now, we can’t really control the people we keep around as friends. Drug addiction starts with friends,” he said.
“You have a friend who has some money, and when you go out to eat with him, he will tell you that you have to smoke before you eat. As you keep smoking, he will say that since you are getting used to it and it is no longer making you high like before, you should add cocaine to it,” he stated.
“When you have that kind of friend, desist from them. That is what I have been able to control myself with. I know a lot of my friends who have gone astray just because of drugs,” he said.
“I want people to pay attention to what I am saying. It is friends who can lead you into drugs, and if you don’t take care and position yourself well in this economy, you will end up doing things your spirit wouldn’t like,”
“I have been able to control certain things around me because I don’t allow just anybody to come close to me. I have dreams, so unless you don’t have a dream of your own, you will start following friends and feel that is your dream,”
“If you have a dream for yourself, you will be focused to the extent that nobody will get you to try anything you don’t want to try.” he averred.