Unity and action

UNITY Fiji party leader Savenaca Narube believes the drug situation in Fiji is already out of control and will continue to grow. Fiji, Mr Narube insists, has lost both the battle and the war against drugs.

He wants us to find an integrated approach with the vanua, churches and the Government to bring this under control.

It’s a sad reflection of opinion on the war against drugs. There is no need to bring expertise from abroad, Mr Narube said. All we need to do is provide platforms to allow “knowledge-sharing and mentoring amongst ourselves”.

His remarks come in the wake of the revelation that police have conducted several drug raids in the past week and included in the haul of illicit substances were 100 kilograms of fresh marijuana plants.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Operations Livai Driu said the raids happened in the past few weeks, leading to seizures and arrests.

In Cunningham, Suva, officers found dried leaves believed to be marijuana packed in small plastic bags.

In Suvavou, three men were arrested after the discovery of methamphetamine, smoking apparatuses, and syringes. In Valelevu, Nasinu, two separate homes were searched for marijuana and methamphetamine.

For whatever it is worth, people like Mr Narube and former assistant commissioner of police Henry Brown remind us about the importance of engagement.

They are reflections of the pulse of the nation and are important factors in the effort to deal with the rise in drug use.

Mr Brown, the man behind the shutdown of a billion dollar Fiji drug lab in 2004, labelled the recent drug find in Nadi as ‘scary’.

“It is in our backyard now,” said Mr Brown while being interviewed on The Fiji Times online portal The Lens@177.

“To be honest I do not know much about that investigation. I only read whatever is put out by The Fiji Times but if it is in our backyard. The fight has just gone up tenfold. It is scary, was my thought initially.

“The sheer size of it. It is scary.”

Mr Brown referred to the drug operation uncovered in Nadi earlier this year as “a different beast altogether”.

For whatever it is worth, they have raised important issues that deserve answers and appropriate responses. We have a scenario that is difficult to accept.

But we do have a major challenge on our hands.

And this needs attention.

It needs a united front, and people to be engaged. The police cannot fight this alone.

For the sake of our nation, and our children, we need to be part of the campaign to empower people, to understand the dangers of drug use, and the associated ills connected to the sale of illicit drugs.

While Mr Narube’s declaration of a war lost is disheartening, we shouldn’t allow this to stop us from doing our best.

We should work together, with a sense of urgency and unity, to find effective solutions.