Home Affairs Minister Pio Tikoduadua believes we need to strike a balance between economic opportunities and national security.
He’s added an extra bit of information here, touching on investment opportunities and the not-so-easy task of identifying criminals posing as investors.
They bring potential risks to the country. Now it isn’t going to be an easy task striking this balance, but there is definitely a need to do that urgently. We probably have already reached the critical stage level.
We need to grow the economy! The challenge is going to be how we pick up bad apples!
Mr Tikoduadua was responding to a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report titled Transnational Organised Crime in the Pacific: Expansion, Challenges and Impact, which outlined the Pacific’s vulnerability to organised crime groups seeking favourable operating conditions in the region.
Now this is going to demand a lot of work at our border control facilities, immigration and our security forces for starters. That will mean incentives and a strict selection and grooming phase.
We learn that the Pacific Transnational Serious and Organised Crime (TSOC) Taskforce has seized more than 4.5 tonnes of cannabis, 86 kilograms of cocaine, 78kg of methamphetamine and 2kg of MDMA (party drug) produced or shipped through Fiji and Tonga from 2019 to date.
On top of that, over 30 outlaw motorcycle gang (OMCG) members and high level transnational organised crime entities have either been refused entry or detained upon arrival in Fiji and Tonga in recent years.
For a while now, over three years, we have been advocating the need for rehabilitation centres for drug addicts. These worrying statistics should now force the powers that be to do more than just talk about it.
It’s because we do not have any in Fiji with qualified doctors and experts associated with dealing with drug addicts.
This is a crucial and time sensitive issue that needs urgent attention.
We cannot just bury our heads in the sand any more, and pretend we do not have a problem.
The absence of such facilities exacerbates the problem, leaving addicts without a lifeline, and without hope for recovery.
We wonder whether we have experts in training who can effectively deal with addicts, and guide them through the transition they must make from being addicts to getting clean.
Such facilities need specialists who understand how the different drugs like methamphetamine and cocaine impact our bodies, and how addicts can be assisted to come clean.
The American Addiction Centers, founded in 2007, with a nation-wide network of addiction rehab facilities, says a key difference between meth and amphetamines, is that greater amounts of meth pass into the brain when compared with a similar dose of amphetamines, making it a more potent stimulant.
As we reflect on the lives of young people shattered by drugs like ice and cocaine, we must confront the harsh realities of addiction.
We must talk about the destruction of families, the impact on communities, and the toll it takes on people.
We know families are often torn apart by addiction, leading to strained relationships and emotional turmoil at home. As we navigate that delicate balance the minister talks about, between encouraging economic growth and protecting national security, we must also emphasise the need to deal with addiction.
We know it isn’t cheap getting proper rehabilitation for drug addiction or putting together well-resourced facilities.
So, we ask the question again, do we have the political will to push for rehabilitation centres?
