Today marks
the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking which happens
every 26th of June. The global observance of International Day against
Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking aims to raise awareness of the major problem
that illicit drugs represent to society.
Forty years ago, the world declared war on drugs. Today, after decades
of failing to adequately control drug consumption, an even graver problem has
emerged: violent drug traffickers have taken the industry hostage and will stop
at nothing to preserve their power.
Drug abuse is a contemporary version of slavery. It destroys autonomy and free will, a foreseeable outcome of using chemicals that artificially suppress and supplant natural brain reward systems in vulnerable people. Addiction especially threatens young people, as the vast majority of addictions can be traced to initiation during adolescence.
This is a period of rapid brain development, with particular risk to
the enduring harms of drug use. An essential priority is to protect the
brains of children and youth, by discouraging use of all drugs. The
international epidemic is led by a globalized network of criminals and
legal business interests, with children and youth as their primary targets.
They have driven exponential growth of potent forms of cannabis, developed
unclean highly addictive cocaine preparations, and created unregulated new
psychoactive substances. Prescription drug diversion for non-medical misuse is
rooted in different origins, but the risks of medication misuse can be as great
or greater than illegal drugs.
I recommend the
following actions to be taken:
·
Support the three UN treaties governing licit
and illicit drugs, which are signed by virtually every nation. These treaties
permit medical use of drugs, with tight regulations to prevent diversion
for non-medical use and which criminalize the nonmedical sale and use of these
same chemicals.
·
Governments have a moral and ethical
responsibility to secure and defend the common good of their citizens. As trafficking
of drugs imperils the health, security and the rule of law in nations, any
compromise can be viewed as complicity.
·
Governments must unequivocally pursue drug
trafficking at every level. They have a responsibility to denounce and
criminalize corrupt banks, bankers and money launderers that profit from the
drug trade, and thwart large scale and local drug trafficking.
·
Governments must not engage in any public,
private or covert agreements to gain financial support for political or
personal reasons from drug traffickers or industries. Such agreements
subvert the common good, trust, health and safety of their people, especially,
their youth.
·
Instead, governments have a public health, legal
and moral responsibility to confiscate the gains of these traffickers/industries
and to use these proceeds to fund assistance programs for the victims, which
include providing treatment, prevention and medical services, family support,
as well as educational and employment opportunities.
·
Governments should not use any ill-begotten
gains from drug trafficking or sales to generate political messages,
regulations or laws that foster use of abusable drugs and subvert public health
and safety laws and regulations.
·
Reject drug legalization for recreational
purposes as a hopeless, mindless strategy that would consign more people,
especially the disadvantaged, youth, the poor and the mentally ill, to misery
or even death while compromising civil society, social stability, equality, and
the law.
·
Create a balanced drug strategy, coordinating
public health and criminal justice systems to curtail supply, discourage drug
use and promote recovery – as a more effective method to treat addiction than
incarceration. The primary goal of addiction treatment is long-term care and
recovery.
·
The foundations of this balanced strategy are
fundamental human rights, that include drug prevention and recovery among the
world’s diverse faith communities, with a special focus on the goal of
protecting youth from drug sales and drug use, in accordance with Article
33 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
·
The prevention of addiction among youth (less
than age 21) is a high priority, and achievable by rejecting the use of
marijuana and other rewarding substances.
·
The underlying reasons for this priority need to
be conveyed to youth and their parents in collaboration with health,
educational and local communities.
·
Educate the public with up-to-date scientific
information on how drugs affect the brain, body and behavior, to clarify
why legalization of marijuana and other drugs for recreational use is poor
public policy, poor public health policy and poor legal policy.
·
Harness religion to support substance abuse
prevention and treatment. Drug use can devastate the soul and a loving
relationship with God. Drug use in our communities tests our faith. The
faithful have a precious opportunity to engage in preventing this tragic form
of modern chemical slavery. For those now enslaved, they can confront the
challenge of addiction and achieve their emancipation.
Finally, we need to reduce the demand for drugs
within our borders. The truth is that if we don’t cut down the demand for #DrugUse
among our people, then drug cartels in foreign nations will always find a way
to get drugs in.
We also have to find a way to shift our nation’s focus to
one where we address the reasons why people seek out drugs in the
first place. This will take considerable educational efforts, a shift in focus
as a society and culture, and a major change in how we deal with difficult
scenarios (difficult life crises being the main reason why most people turn to
drugs in the first place).
Furthermore, it is very crucial that both Governments and
NGOs need to work hand-in-hand in the fight against this menace and initiatives
like greater information exchange and sharing of experiences between NGOs and
community organizations and the authorities is indeed most welcome. #EndDrugAbuse
#DayAgainstDrugAbuse #HealthforJustice #JusticeforHealth
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