Guyana may not have a drug problem but it does not escape the problem

Another cog in a big wheel
By KAITEUR NEWS Editorial

Guyana does not have a drug problem. There are a few addicts whom we derogatively refer to as junkies. These have been the young men who opted to experiment out of boredom and because of curiosity. These were probably people who became hooked on marijuana when that drug was the attraction for young Guyanese.
Indeed, some people found alcohol too harsh and opted for the milder but equally sensational highs induced by narcotics. It was under these conditions that many became addicts. However, given Guyana’s economic base the drug users simply did not have enough money to sustain what is an expensive habit.
Some who were employed soon lost their jobs because cocaine is a drug that dominates the psyche. It makes people sacrifice everything, including food, decency and cleanliness, for a fix. So it was that people sacrificed their jobs that actually helped them maintain the habit for a while.
The presence of cocaine in Guyana dates back to the early days of PPP government when an enterprising Latin American drug dealer opted to drop tons of cocaine up the Demerara River. Despite the presence of large quantities of the drug in Guyana the number of drug addicts is relatively small. That is because the dealers pursue the most rewarding markets.  And these markets are found in those countries where drug users are prepared to pay large sums of money to access the drug.
These countries are those in Europe and in North America where millions of people live. The result is that all the major drug producers and drug dealers target these countries. Their efforts spawn another round of expenditure because the users must be cared for medically.
Some of these countries, in the face of people smuggling drugs across their borders, adopt draconian measures, so draconian that even those who want to see an end to drug trafficking, often cringe at the punishment meted out to the captured drug smugglers.
For example, Malaysia probably has the most drastic way of dealing with drug smugglers. The authorities impose severe whippings on those caught smuggling drugs across its borders. Sometimes it employs its firing squad, often ignoring the pleas of those countries from which the drug smugglers come.
Just this week the Guyana Government was jumping to the skies because the Americans were going to set up an office of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Guyana. Already there are DEA offices in Suriname and Trinidad and for good reason.
Our little corner of the world has long been seen as a major drug transshipment point for drugs coming out of Colombia. With its large market the United States has problems. It must gear for the criminal activities stemming from the drug trade—things like the drug wars and the robberies to fuel the drug habit.
Then it must set up the various clinics to deal with the instances of drug related ailments and overdose. It must keep making prisons and it must staff the courts for the various prosecutions. All these things come at a great cost to the economy.
There are those who say that the United States must foot the bill for the global fight against illegal drugs. These people argue that the drug problem is not ours. They may be right. However, as the race to ship the drugs to those large countries, including the United States rages, small countries must suffer the fallout and the fallout comes in the form of death.
The political opposition with support from the United Nations concluded that more than 400 young people died violently during the crime wave spawned by the 2002 Camp Street jailbreak and the drug wars that scarred the land.
Indeed Guyana may not have a drug problem but it does not escape the problem. To make matters worse it is believed to be a haven for drug traffickers, not only Guyanese but those from other countries, some fleeing the arms of the law.
And because of the money in drugs it is not difficult to understand why no major trafficker has ever been arrested in Guyana. The presence of the DEA should change all that.