Pubdate: Fri, 28 Mar 2003
Source: Jamaica Gleaner, The (Jamaica)
Copyright: 2003 The Gleaner Company Limited
Contact:  http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/493
Author: Lloyd Williams, compiler

THE ILLICIT DRUG TRADE AND JAMAICA

Illicit Drugs Provide Short-Term Gains For A Few, But Long-Term Losses For 
Many. - File

(The illegal drug trade in Jamaica in 2002 is the subject of comment in the 
Report of the United Nations International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), 
a United Nations publication, and in the International Narcotics Control 
Strategy Report 2003, published by the Bureau for International Narcotics 
and Law Enforcement Affairs, US Department of State.

INCB is an independent and quasi-judicial control organ established by 
treaty, for monitoring the implementation of international drug control 
treaties. Its 13 members are elected by the Economic and Social Council of 
the United Nations. The following are some highlights of the INCB Report 
which were compiled by Lloyd Williams, Senior Associate Editor:)

THE UNITED Nations International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) has 
expressed concern at efforts in Jamaica to decriminalise the personal use 
of ganja here.

According to the INCB report for 2002, trafficking in cannabis (ganja) in 
the Caribbean has declined over the last two decades. It cites the example 
of Belize and Jamaica where, it said, the total area under cannabis 
cultivation in 1980 was estimated to be five times the area currently under 
cannabis cultivation.

Stating that the reduction had been achieved through intensive eradication 
campaigns, INCB commented: "Despite those efforts, Jamaica continues to be 
an important source of supply for illicit markets in North America and, to 
some extent, the Eastern Caribbean; it also constitutes the main illicit 
market for cannabis in the Caribbean.

"The Board therefore notes with concern the attempts to decriminalise the 
personal use of cannabis in Jamaica and in a number of other Caribbean 
countries."

SOCIAL PROBLEM

This is a reference to the Report of the National Commis-sion on Ganja, 
which in August 2001, recommended, among other things, that:

"The relevant laws be amended so that ganja be decriminalised for the 
private, personal use of small quantities by adults."

The INCB points out that the world drug problem was often seen primarily as 
a social problem, arguing that that was understandable, as the insidious 
long-term effects of chronic drug abuse and its impact on the drug abuser, 
the family, the community and the society were obvious. Stating that there 
were other aspects of the drug problem that were common throughout the 
world, it reviewed the economic consequences of illicit crop cultivation 
and the illicit drug trade.

On the issue of illicit drugs and economic development, INCB concluded that 
drug control efforts should take account of the following:

*Illicit drugs provide short-term gains for a few, but long-term losses for 
many.

*The drug problem is to be considered in the overall economic and 
development context of a country;

NOT FEASIBLE

*There are well-established multilateral mechanisms for dealing with both 
the drug problem and the development problem, and the two mechanisms have 
to be better integrated as long-term economic development in a country is 
not feasible without an effective drug control system;

*In countries with high unemployment, illicit drug production and 
trafficking provide considerable employment opportunities but jeopardise 
the development of human capital;

*Small farmers derive, in the short term, economic benefits from illicit 
drug crop cultivation, but the sums of these benefits is less than one per 
cent of the turnover from the world's illicit drug trade;

*Ninety-nine per cent of the value-added in the global illicit drug trade 
is generated by trafficking at the national and international levels;

*The bulk of the profits from the illicit drug trade are made in developed 
countries; however the economic impact of the drug problem is felt more in 
d eveloping countries, where the value of the illicit trade represents a 
larger proportion of the economy than in developed countries;

FIREARMS

*There is generally a negative correlation between illicit drug production 
and the economic growth of a country;

*The illicit drug production and the related economic activities compromise 
long-term economic development because of their destabilising effects on 
the state, the economic and civil society.

*Drug trafficking in the Caribbean and South America continues to be linked 
with trafficking in firearms and to be facilitated by corruption. Illicit 
drugs and arms are sometimes used as interchangeable commodities. Most of 
the firearms come from countries such as El Salvador and Nicaragua, where 
civil conflicts have ended, resulting in large caches of firearms, and are 
transported to guerrilla insurgency groups in countries in South America, 
mainly Colombia.

*The emergence of a drug economy can result in the destabilisation of the 
state, the political system, the economy and civil society. The 
destabilisation of the political system relates to the ability of the 
illicit drug industry to finance electoral campaigns and corruption, as 
well as insurgency, terrorism and organised crime. Destabilisation of the 
economy takes on various forms:

EXCHANGE RATE

a) It undermines macroeconomic decisions to counter the flow of illicit 
profits, thus creating high interest rates and crowding out legitimate 
investment;

b) It brings about an overvalued exchange rate as a result of the inflow of 
illicit profits, diminishing legitimate exports;

c) It promotes illegal business and unfair competition, including obstacles 
put on legitimate business;

d) It encourages conspicuous consumption at the expense of long-term 
investment;

e) It encourages investment in non-productive sectors, and,

f) It exacerbates unequal income distribution.

*The illicit drug industry can destabilise not only the state and the 
economy but civil society as well. This can happen as a result of increased 
levels of crime (gang wars, kidnappings, extortion); the erosion of social 
capital; compromised rule of law; the corruption of the elite and or the 
political system; gambling and prostitution; drug abuse: and the loss of 
community cohesion.

*The main symptom or manifestation of the destabilisation of civil society 
is the rising levels of crime, notably violent crime, which has a strong 
impact on consumption patterns (such as the need to pay for security 
services); and on individual freedom (notably freedom of movement). 
Drug-related crime includes acquisitive crime, gang wars, violence in 
public spaces, extortion and kidnapping.

SUSTAINABLE

*Legalisation: "The truth is that there are no safe ways to abuse drugs".

*Progress has been made in recent years in most countries in the 
development and adoption of more appropriate drug control legislation and 
the establishment of national and subregional institutions and co-operation 
mechanisms.

INCB points out that to be sustainable and to ensure the implementation of 
the legislation, those officials need appropriate funding from sources 
within and outside of Central America and the Caribbean. It called on 
Canada, the United States, and countries in Europe, as the main 
destinations of the illicit drug shipments, not to reduce their drug 
control assistance in favour of measures against terrorism, but to look for 
new ways to combine both.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart