The newly proposed Counter Narcotics Bureau will bring together the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Policing and a joint Police-Military task force under a coordinated national approach to tackling Fiji’s drug problem.
Permanent Secretary for Policing and Communications Berenado Daveta announced the proposal during the Pacific Peace and Security Dialogue, outlining the Government’s plans to strengthen its response to transnational serious organised crime and illicit drugs.
Mr Daveta said Fiji was capproaching the issue through a three-tiered model, beginning with governance and policy coordination among key stakeholders.
“We’re working towards having a policy that joins all the key stakeholders that needs to be included in prevention and looking at the strategies.
“So the approach would include harm reduction, demand reduction and legislative reforms.”
As part of that strategy, he said the Government was preparing legislation to establish a Counter Narcotics Bureau.
Mr Daveta said Fiji was now implementing a national strategy that was endorsed by Parliament about three years ago.
He said the proposed legislation was expected to be tabled in Parliament around August this year.
“In that legislation, we are going to deal with the drug issues here with a joint effort.”
He said the bureau’s work would cover harm reduction, supply reduction and demand reduction.
Under the proposed structure, the Ministry of Health would lead harm reduction initiatives, enforcement agencies would be responsible for supply reduction, while the Ministry of Policing would oversee demand reduction efforts and legislative reforms.
