THE police have urged Indo-Fijian faith-based groups to be more proactive in dealing with the country’s hard drug problem.
The Fiji Police Force’s proactive-manager, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Reshmi Singh, said their figures showed that Indo-Fijians were more involved in dealing, consuming and being found in possession of white drugs than iTaukei.
“If we look at the population of Fiji, it’s 929,000,” she said.
“There are 348,375 Indo-Fijians of which 0.9 percent (319) consumed illicit drugs for the period January to July this year,” ASP Reshmi Singh said.
“Whereas for the iTaukei, it’s 0.15 percent (808) from a population of 527,672 people over the same period.
“Let’s get this out in the open because we have a lot of substance abuse cases among Indo-Fijian communities, with domestic violence cases increasing from these as a result.
“And also the fact that Indo-Fijians are the ones found in possession of hard drugs such as methamphetamines.”
ASP Singh said hard drugs cost about $50 or even $100 a sachet, depending on weight, which is affordable to the Indo-Fijian community, whereas the iTaukei community mostly consumes marijuana, which sells at around $10 a roll.
“Indigenous people do consume methamphetamine, but then they would share it around.
“The Indo-Fijians, who work in good places, are the ones who can afford and thus their number is higher.”
ASP Singh said indigenous Fijians were far more proactive in raising awareness about drugs and inviting the police to their communities and villages to discuss the issue.”
She questioned the involvement of Hindu and Muslim religious organisations in Interfaith meetings, saying there is usually no response or invitation from them to the police to raise awareness of the problem among their communities on an issue that is slowly destroying the country’s youths.
“I believe more Indo-Fijians are found in possession, in peddling, in consumption, in all of this. The numbers are higher among Indo-Fijians as most of the drug seizures we are doing are from the Indo-Fijians, including the Muslim community.”
Responding to the claims by ASP Singh, Shree Sanatan Dharam Brahman Purohit Sabha Fiji national president Mahesh Chand Sharma said: “We invite religious leaders, and we talk to parents and the community ourselves on drugs, but we do not see the need to call the police.”
Shree Sanatan Dharam Purohit Brahman Maha Sabha Fiji, Pundit Vishnu Deo, said they’ve thought of inviting the police and would certainly look into it.
“We have been inviting youth groups and other influential people to talk to our younger generation as they are prone to fall among the wrong groups and get into substance abuse, but we’ve overlooked the fact that the police could be more effective in raising awareness of drugs,” Pundit Deo said.
