Our growing drug dilemma
It is high time we had a national conversation, in a roundtable or symposium or whatever form, to discuss this crucial issue and come up with ways to work together and find lasting solutions.
DRUGS and drug abuse are not new issues in Fiji.
But over the past few years, the increased local cultivation and trade of marijuana and the influx of methamphetamine coming out of South East Asia, has driven the problem to unprecedented levels.
This week Education Minister Premila Kumar revealed that some primary school students in the Lami corridor had been caught with drugs and related apparatus.
Police spokeswoman Ana Naisoro said four juveniles aged 16 and 17 were involved in drug-related activity from January to April this year.
Eighteen cases were recorded by police in 2021 and 29 in 2020.
As shocking as the figures may seem, they are just the proverbial tip of the iceberg.
One thing is for sure, the pandemic has created the perfect local conditions for drug-related crimes in Fiji to thrive beyond our capacity to control them.
The economic downturn and the severe COVID-19 restrictions have not only screwed up businesses and worried the government. At the grassroots they have exacerbated the vulnerabilities of Fiji’s most poor and marginalised groups.
Experts are saying because of these “fertile” conditions, organised crime groups are stepping in where governments seem unable to provide support to those most at risk of being left behind.
The United Nations says while illicit drug markets have been quick to adapt during the pandemic, authorities on the other hand, have been slow to respond - exposing drug users to new and worsening risks.
“The world drug problem as a whole is becoming more acute and is expected to worsen due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the UN says.
Furthermore, the lack of access to drug prevention and treatment make it more likely that already marginalised populations will engage in more harmful patterns of drug use and suffer from drug use disorders, it says.
Psychologist Selina Kuruleca believes the country’s “war on drugs” is no longer an effective intervention strategy.
She says there is a serious need to better understand the dynamics of the illegal drug trade and how innocent children are slowly being made to be an integral part of it.
“This is disturbingly sad. It reaffirms that we all need to be vigilant,” Mr Kuruleca says.
Towards the end of 2021 police uprooted about 30,000 plants with a maturity value of around $540 million from 27 farms on the island of Kadavu alone.
This shows that while lives remained stagnant during the pandemic, marijuana plants were thriving on island farms and it was business as usual for many players in the drug trade.
Marijuana aside, authorities now have another growing drug problem on their hands – the production and widespread sales of the addictive synthetic drug, methamphetamine, commonly known as “ice”.
In 2004, Fiji made international headlines when a huge methamphetamine lab was discovered with enough chemicals to make over $500m worth of the drug.
That raid almost 20 years ago underscored warnings by international experts that countries of the Pacific would quickly become havens for organised crime if effective interventions were not put in place and corruption was allowed to fester.
Today, what was a rarity a few years back is now a dreaded reality within our neighbourhoods.
Most suburbs and residential areas have someone who sells ice for as low as $50 a small pack roughly the size of a 50 cent coin.
Users can use methamphetamine or ice as a pill, powder, crystal or liquid and can be swallowed, snorted or injected.
It is commonly smoked in a glass pipe or bong.
Effects vary with users, but it generally stimulates the central nervous system to release a “feelgood” brain chemical that can make one feel energetic, talkative and confident.
It can also make someone feel hyperactive, paranoid and aggressive.
Last year the UN Office on Drugs and Crime reported that the number of methamphetamine tablets seized in East and South East Asia alone exceeded one billion for the first time.
The 1.008 billion tablets, estimated to weigh 91 tonnes altogether, were part of a regionwide haul of almost 172 tonnes of methamphetamine in all forms, and was seven times higher than the amount seized in 10 years earlier, UNODC said.
What’s concerning is, when this region experiences an oversupply, meth inevitably finds itself in the Pacific, where the islands are used as a “buzzer zone” and form part of the so-called Crystal Road trade route to the Americas.
The drugs from Southeast Asia are largely consumed in that region, but they are also exported to Hong Kong and our neighbours, Australia and New Zealand.
UNODC has come up with a five-year strategy aimed at addressing and countering the drug problem between 2021 and 2025.
It will partner with United Nations entities, academia, relevant national and regional institutions to foster a coherent position, and strengthen national data collection capacity as well as monitoring and analysis of the world drug problem.
The focus on vulnerable populations (including children, youth, women and people in contact with the criminal justice system and in humanitarian settings) will be intensified
UNODC will support member states too, in the practical implementation of international drug policy commitments and the follow-up process led by the Commission on Narcotic Drugs.
This will facilitate the development of evidence based, human rights-compliant and gender-sensitive policies and programs and empower communities to form strong cooperatives that can transition to the licit economy.
The office hopes to leverage its complementary mandates to counter transnational organised crime, as well as crime prevention and criminal justice, to assist countries in developing and implementing law enforcement responses to the production, trafficking in and sale of drugs.
Meanwhile, Fiji’s rising drug problem cannot be tackled by government alone.
What is needed is the participation of all sectors of society.
And while efforts are spent on drug seizures, equal amount of time and energy should be spent on education and awareness, rehabilitating of drug users, research, uprooting corruption, modernising our laws and policies, cooperating with other governments and international organisations, modernising our police force and working with local businesses, the media, religious organisations and civil society.
It is high time we had a national conversation, in a roundtable or symposium or whatever form, to discuss this crucial issue and come up with ways to work together and find lasting solutions.
The time to act is now because the lives of Fiji’s children now hang in the balance.