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Clearer understanding of the impact of illicit drugs needed – OAS
Jean-Ricot Dormeus, OAS Representative to Guyana
The Organization of American States (OAS) has identified the need for a clearer understanding of the impact illicit drugs on Guyana and the rest of the hemisphere.
Jean-Ricot Dormeus, OAS Representative to Guyana, said recently that it is widely known that drug trafficking fuels crime and violence, destroys youth, seeks to corrupt civil servants and politicians while at the same time derails the forward movement of regional economies.
“We need to understand more clearly the effects to our societies and economies. We need to sharpen our tools to counter the effects. We need to craft policies that curb crime and violence,” Dormeus pointed out.
Guyana like most Caribbean countries is considered a hub for the illicit drug trade, which is transshipped to the United States and Europe, he said.
Illegal airstrips in the hinterland have been used to receive drugs, which then filter into other parts of the country to be shipped out via several products that include rice, lumber and a variety of processed foods.
Most of the drugs are coming from Latin America, according to law enforcement officers. It was noted that Latin America’s homicide rate is exceedingly high at a time when murder is declining virtually everywhere else. The region is home to just eight percent of the global population, but 33 percent of its murders, according to reports distributed by the illicit drug observatories hosted by Guyana.
If conditions remain unchanged, the regional homicide rate is expected to rise from 21.5 per 100,000 today to around 35 per 100,000 by 2030.
In December 2016, Government launched a four-year National Drug Strategy Master Plan, which included the establishment of the National Anti Narcotics Agency (NANA) to counter all aspects of the illicit drug trade, a court to deal with special cases, and reduced sentences and treatment for some offenders.
NANA which is headed by Major General (ret’d) Michael Atherly, has been positioned to take the lead role in coordinating inter-agency drug fighting initiatives.
Building a regional network is also seen as crucial to stopping the flow of illicit drugs. Hence, this week, representatives from Guyana joined other stakeholders from the Caribbean at a two-day seminar for drug observatories at the Ramada Georgetown Princess Hotel. The seminar concluded on Thursday.
The seminar ended with high expectations that the participants would strengthen their capacity to gather, analyze and report on drug-related information and to enable the development of evidence-based drug policies and programmes.
Dormeus, who addressed the seminar, stated that the event took place at an important juncture in the history of Guyana and in the context that the cooperation between the OAS and Guyana has intensified. He also commended NANA’s lead role in organizing the seminar.
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