Ecstasy is destroying our youths; government needs to do much more to protest them

Mar 03, 2019 Letters

Dear Editor,

ECSTASY is filling a growing spiritual void in the lives of our bright, young, gullible Guyanese students in a wide cross-section of schools, including those that we associate with the privileged of our society. It appears that the Government is doing little or nothing of consequence to remove this scourge from our land. The PPP/Civic Government has, at best, a questionable reputation as it relates to fighting drug trafficking and related crimes. All you have to do is call the name Roger Khan and phantoms rise from the grave to remind us of the lethal cocktail that is brewed when Governmental access and support unites with money-driven crime. Although, to date, no accusing finger of criminal conspiracy has been pointed at the Granger Government, it has failed miserably to arrest and purge drug trafficking from our land.
A few days ago, news broke that the Police “busted” a well-established ring of criminal dealers in the mind-altering drug called ECSTACY. And the reported circumstances surrounding the bust suggests more luck and good coincidences than effective detailed police detection work. But for a very long time, it has been common knowledge on the streets that ecstasy and related drugs are being peddled in places that you would not suspect, and even in our schools. And given the extremely small population of Guyana, it is difficult to believe that the police were not fully aware of this.
A report also indicates that these criminals openly try to bribe our law officers to avoid being held to account. It is left to our imagination as to whether or not any succeed in actually bribing our policemen. But given the number of arrests and successful prosecutions reported, the temptation is to assume the worst. And when a suspected drug dealer who may be implicated in the death of a teenager is released on a ridiculously paltry bail, I would not be surprised if he were also given a guard of honour and a gun salute.
The penalties for trafficking in drugs at their current levels are woefully inadequate and almost suggest a co-operation between lawmakers who may have benefitted from profits from the trade and the criminals. In the last two decades, we all have seen multi-billion dollar multi-storey buildings shoot up out of nowhere in the absence of their owners being able to demonstrate an accountable economic foundation for the funds that appear to be laundered through these buildings. This activity cannot thrive outside of an environment in which Government direct or indirect support is available. Concerns of this nature have not been restricted to local discussion but have thrived in the international arena.
It is bad enough when persons from an easily identifiable section of our society prosper on criminal activity that enriches them and their family. But we must call for an immediate halt to this activity when the minds and lives of our young people and future of Guyana are being irreparably damaged. The interesting thing about the current ECSTASY plague is that through the High School system, it is reaching the sons and daughters of lawyers, doctors, engineers and hopefully, politicians. Perhaps we will not see meaningful political deterrent action until the son or daughter of a prominent politician is destroyed by ECSTACY. In the meanwhile, ordinary, struggling, hard-working Guyanese are losing their children, one by one, because they have failed to provide a moral and spiritual alternative to ECSTASY in the home.

Phyllis J. Jordan

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