For a Drugs Policy

Oct 12, 2011 Editorial

While most would concede that there has been some progress in several areas of national life, none would dispute that on the drugs front we have moved in the opposite direction. During the last decade, the scourge has spread into the very sinews of our society. We believe our politicians on the hustings should review the status of the present anti-drugs programmes and formulate a new overarching game plan that may deliver progress at long last.
Some propose that drugs ought to be legalised, but we believe that this is a slippery slope that must be eschewed. If this occurs, usage will skyrocket, especially for the occasional users, and soon drug usage will be seen as “normal” in society. We have always legalised the use of alcohol, but has this ever had an impact on its use (or abuse)? We have to deal with the problem directly.
Any drug policy that stands a chance of success must address the problem in a holistic fashion and grapple with the triple pillars – control of supply, reduction of demand and limitation of the attendant problems of drug usage. Firstly, our laws ought to be generic and principled and not ad hoc, so that we will be able to deal with the ever-increasing new drugs being produced – including prescription-filled ones.
Marijuana and cocaine are the two major drugs that are abused in Guyana. The former has been in use for quite some time, probably with the introduction of indentured East Indians, who bequeathed its widespread regional name, ganja. Most of the local demand is supplied locally and it does not appear that much of the production is exported.
The use of marijuana by Rastafarians as an integral aspect of their religious ritual combined with the inconclusive evidence of malignant effects and prescribed medicinal use, maybe suggest that the authorities should take another look at our laws that proscribe its usage and redefine it as a “restricted” rather than an illegal substance. Cocaine has spread into our society as a by-product of our country becoming a transshipment point of the drug from its sources in Colombia and other Latin American countries to primarily the United States and Canada. If we can establish a handle on the traffic into our country, we would have gone a long way in dealing with its other effects.
And it is this aspect of the problem that has generated much heat between our government and the US. A poor country like ours just does not have the wherewithal, for instance, to cover the thousands of miles of open borders that we share with our neighbours that have contiguous borders with the cocaine-producing states. We have suggested in the past that our Defence Force be redesigned as a border patrol and redeployed to our borders and we do so once again.
As the major destination for the drug, it is not unreasonable for our government to expect more assistance from the US in dealing with what is a common problem. There have been many promises about a local DEA office being established, but for several (contradictorily stated) reasons this has never materialised. Unless the US legalises cocaine, which is unlikely, its demand for the drug without its assistance to stem the tide locally, will ensure that Guyana remains a significant transshipment point for the drug. And the recipient of its deadly spillover.
On controlling demand and dealing with the problems of drug abuse, public education programmes about its dangers will have to continue: our society’s norms must accept that it is not appropriate behaviour. But we will also have to accept that a percentage of our population – between three to five percent – have a propensity to addiction to various substances.
Drug abuse is therefore a disease and in addition to being defined as an “illegal activity” it must be dealt with as a public health issue in order to achieve a better balance between punishment, rehabilitation and education. More resources will have to be used to fund counselling agencies, youth activity alternatives, etc. What say the politicians?

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