Editorial comment – Raising the fight against drugs

Listen to this article:

Picture: FILE.

THE revelation that two 16-year-old students were arrested by Police on Thursday after they were allegedly found with dried leaves believed to be marijuana will attract attention.

Police assistant spokesperson Pawan Kumar confirmed the two were students of a high school in Nakasi.

They were allegedly found with a black plastic bag containing leaves believed to be marijuana.

The dried leaves were sent for analysis.

In another incident, police arrested and detained a 28-year-old woman of Macfarlane Rd in Raiwai, Suva after she was allegedly found in possession of a small clear plastic containing white crystals believed to be methamphetamine.

The white crystals have been sent for analysis. A 28-year-old and a 25-year-old men of Nadi are in police custody after they were also allegedly found in possession of a sachet of dried leaves believed to be marijuana.

The leaves were sent for analysis as investigations continued.

A 54-year-old man was arrested in the Ba Market after he was allegedly found with dried leaves wrapped in aluminium foil believed to be marijuana.

The suspect from Nailaga, Ba, is in police custody while the drugs have been sent for analysis.

Police Commissioner Brigadier General Sitiveni Qiliho has made no bones about the attention now being placed on drugs.

Drugs continue to be an issue of great concern for the force.

The debate on marijuana usage and whether it should be legalised continues in the US for instance, with a number of states leaning towards the medical use of the drug.

In our context, marijuana is illegal and we all have a stake in the drug war.

The question is where we sit on this important issue.

Surely many of us will no doubt accept that we do have a responsibility to uphold important values that make life what it is in Fiji.

We can either be part of the initiative to create awareness about the negative impact of illicit drugs on society, or be a part of the process of helping it thrive. It is difficult to shrug aside the fact that drugs are a part of our lives.

They come in many forms, from marijuana to hard drugs like cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin. Smoking of marijuana, it seems, is rife in many parts of the country.

The drug trade is lucrative and has clothed and fed many who have no second thoughts about its harmful effects on users and their dependents.

To survive, traders have had to come up with innovative ways to do business as police clamp down on the trade.

As the force targets dealers who are adapting to their methods of detection, it needs the support and encouragement of members of the public.

Awareness starts at home.

One of the dangers we face is ‘acceptance’ – when the drug habit becomes an acceptable part of growing up.

We must place some value on what is acceptable and what is not.

While there is a need for awareness at primary and high school level, there should also be a platform that offers alternatives for farmers now engaged in marijuana farming.

We should be fostering open and honest discussions now and not just on International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on June 26.

Array
(
    [post_type] => post
    [post_status] => publish
    [orderby] => date
    [order] => DESC
    [update_post_term_cache] => 
    [update_post_meta_cache] => 
    [cache_results] => 
    [category__in] => 1
    [posts_per_page] => 4
    [offset] => 0
    [no_found_rows] => 1
    [date_query] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [after] => Array
                        (
                            [year] => 2023
                            [month] => 12
                            [day] => 28
                        )

                    [inclusive] => 1
                )

        )

)

No Posts found for specific category