Thursday, January 24, 2008

Drugs; A Mess that Maldivian Government finds hard to clean

Some people may wonder why young men give up their lives for a pleasure of few minutes, The drugs. I too have the same question in my curiosity, not that i desire drugs or drugs use, but that i hate it. I have seen many cousins and relatives and several other family members fall into drugs. Its not only my family, but a huge fraction of the population of the Maldivian youth are infected with this plague in the recent times.

Questions arise at this point, why did such a lethal plague in this country so easily ? The answer maybe different, but all will agree that there still are drugs smuggled into the country in a way that the local authorities are unaware. Today, when we are in a politically 'hyper' situation, Many opposition political parties and several individuals point the finger to the government of Maldives. The cause my lie unknown but i firmly believe its time the authorities take required measures to stop this disease. So far from what i see, i completely agree that the issue is totally out of the hands of the government and this is a mess that Maldivian government finds hard to clean.

Thank you

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Addiction & The Maldive Islands

The addiction process or what addiction was known to people of the beautiful Maldives in late 1993. Substance abuse dependency or addiction became a common fixation in the beginning of the year 1994.

Reason of Chemical Dependency in Maldive Islands (commonly / opiates – Brown Sugar & Heroin / Pharmaceutical Abuse.) -

26th July 1991 an incursion took place in a single house & 05 youths got arrested including 02 very close member of Qayoom’s family. An unpredictable warrant came out direct from President’s office to the Police to raid each & everyone connected in smoking , pushing or dealing of cannabis in any form (mainly Honey or Hash Oil was the kind of cannabis commonly smoked in Maldives. / Hash , weed other forms were also available infrequently) This raid / the largest drug bust almost arrested anyone who was connected in using cannabis or having any other relations with it. A man who smoked a joint once in life time were also given a sentence not less than 12 yrs in Jail or banishment. Maximum penalties went up to 25years Jail (life sentence). During these arrest all the key figures dealing with Marijuana & all ganja users were arrested and the whole of Maldives almost got dry & it was hard to find a joint in Male’. This raid took place in 1991 & arrested a hell of lot of people , & it seems like the beginning of substance abuse here.

The beginning of 1992 was the attack of the chasing dragon , slowly Brown Sugar / Heroin happened to be coming on to the streets of Male’ , which was a new drug which gave a sort euphoric effect & was a new drug to everyone. This class A drug was devised or formulated to the streets by some foreign workers (Sri Lankans) who took the opportunity of dry Maldives from Marijuana. The hazard of this was not known to the youth & as an experimental or for the fun of using a drug Brown Sugar was used & most of the youth who tried it got hooked on it. These Sri Lankan workers were the pushers as well being the dealers. Eventually at the beginning of 1993 most of the youths were addicted to Heroin or Brown Sugar & this continuous story has been developing from then till now & then ahead because there aren’t any strategies to stop this or control this disturbance. To my belief I would say that it was a propaganda of Qayoom’s Administration to keep a large part of the youth population gripped in addiction this for him to scuttle the administration without the interference of almost half of intelligent, smart, important youths of Maldives without helping in any manner to control it for his safety to remain in power . Qayoom destructed a lot of youth & some elderly people who had addiction tribulations so the opposition which never existed but the fear of that made him not run any awareness programs of danger of opiates or rehabilitate centre or any means of HELP!!!. I do not have an exact figure but one thing I cud say is there will be at least one Brown Addict in each household in the Capital Male’ & most of the islands including most of the resorts as well dominates a large number of addicts. The government’s registered figure at NNCB- (National Narcotic Control Board) is around 3000-3500 & other analysis shows around 5000-9000 on average 4 to 5% of the total population & its on fast growth. Even today more & more are getting into the Heroin/Brown Cult – becoming junkie or the PAATEY’S.

Maldives:- no one was interested in this high risk dangerous drugs till 1992. Marijuana was the only thing which is in the category of drugs was used here & almost 18% of the population smokes weed or ganja (some form of cannabis). The figures may not be exact.


HOW GOVT HELPED THE ADDICTS –(couple of years later 1996-1998)
To control hazardous situation at that time as crime rate & violence correlated with the Class A drug problem with Junkies , Qayoom’s Administration decided to raid again & decided to arrest the addicts & sentenced them to jail on harsh sentences without any form of rehabilitating facilities (jail sentences of some teenagers even went 80yrs in prison) which started to make them crazy. All Jails were packed up & overall 60% of the criminals were Junkies but what made everything go worse was that a of lot types of criminals were kept alongside (included – Political Prisoners/ murderers / thieves 1stclass / looters /child abuse etc) This form of rehabilitating made things much worse, mixing of criminals activated their brains into master mind in anything they did.

During the beginning of 1998 a corner room inside the central jail was allocated as the classroom commencement of a rehabilitee by following therapeutic community program. The administration ineffectual & program too was ineffective. Later that year a facility was build of total capacity 80 patients it too was inadequate because of the lack of professionals & the dirty politic. Till today there is no active professional drug rehabilitate centre with professionals. At the same time Govt did not authorize any private party to carry on an institute.

This addiction state of affairs has become devastating as the whole perception of the addicts are changing as the NEEDLES are becoming common in Maldives after about 15 years of chasing the dragon. These is a very serious issue but till today Govt or any other have not been able to help in any manner. Almost every other week an overdose case kills a youth.
The Maldivian Business Community & the tourism industry as well as the International Media shows the world the sweetest path to the paradise on EARTH, with cocaine white sandy beaches the crystal clear blue water & advertising the art of doing nothing in this peaceful islands but the inside of Maldives & the Maldivians are of hatred & the rising of bitterness will fly into a rage and no one other than us are aware of this consequence.