Drugs are being stashed in shopping bags, diapers and even fancy hairstyles in Labasa and it’s happening in plain sight. This was the warning from former Labasa Town Council special administrator Doreen Robinson, who claimed marijuana was being openly sold at municipal markets in the North.
“It’s becoming a normal part of many conversations and a nightmare for law enforcement,” she said during the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Summit.
She said the illegal trade was widespread and had become a national crisis.
“This issue is not just local but a national problem that needs urgent attention.”
Ms Robinson said the drug trade was deeply entrenched in poverty with some sellers making more from weed than from fruit and vegetables at the markets.
“Women and children are involved, which means families are involved.”
She claimed that marijuana now grows beside regular crops in some parts of the island, adding that
enforcement alone won’t solve the issue. She called for legal, profitable alternatives like agribusiness and commercial agriculture.
“This is where we agribusiness people come into play.”
Questions sent to the Fiji Police Force remained unanswered when this edition went to press.
