Strategic planning - tool to combat illicit drug menace

Chandra Wickramasinghe

DRUG ABUSE:It is indeed heartening to see President Mahinda Rajapakse cracking the whip vigorously on the law enforcement authorities to come down heavily on kasippu mudalalies, the big time drug barons and the ubiquitous small time drug pedlars.

This is all the more laudable as despite the corrosive social effects of illicit drugs, successive administrations have not had the required political resolve and the unswerving commitment to launch a sustained frontal onslaught on the organized purveyors of these illicit substances whose devastating impact is increasingly felt on the physical as well as the economic well-being of the people of this country.

It is common knowledge that there has been a lot of pussyfooting on the part of the powers that be, due often to certain top politicos being obliged to these racketeers and drug dealers for numerous favours granted and services rendered to them at various stages of their political careers.

As it is wryly said, there is nothing called a free lunch! To wheeler dealers, thugs and racketeers, giving material assistance to politicians to accelerate their upward journey to Parliament and high ministerial positions, is looked upon as an investment.

Political culture

Our present day political culture has become so warped that thuggery and ill-gotten money seem to be necessary prerequisites for political advancement! This is indeed a depressing reflection of the current societal mores that seem to pervade society, across the board.

When politicians protect and harbour criminals from the operation of the laws of the land, what is the example they hold out to the law enforcement authorities ? This latter category is bound to take the cue from their political masters and work out arrangements with errant members of the public, to their private advantage.

They come to terms with what they perceive as ground realities and seek simultaneously turning things to their own advantage. This is quite often successfully accomplished by enhancing their prospects of promotion in the service as well as acquiring a certain degree of impunity when they themselves transgress the law! This is sad but inexorable logic! So, where is the discipline coming from, which is fundamental to the maintenance of law and order, one may blandly ask.

Laws delays

Many statutes in Sri Lanka need to be revised to bring them in line with social developments and to keep abreast of the new trends in criminal behaviour. The law enforcement authorities have similarly to update their investigative techniques to combat the rising wave of sophisticated crime.

Laws delays constitute a major stumbling block to the expeditious dispensation of justice which latter is the mainstay of the confidence reposed by people in the judicial process and the criminal justice system. Modern social problems have to contend with an antiquated system of court procedures. The in-built inefficiencies of the criminal justice system are indeed starkly reflected in the tragically low rate of convictions recorded.

In Sri Lanka, stemming from certain religious sensitivities, the death penalty, although pronounced by court on criminals at times, is never carried out.

However, with the rapid deterioration of law and order in the country, even eminent and highly respected religious dignitaries who are appalled by the heinous crimes perpetrated, seem now to be in favour of the restitution and the implementation of the death penalty, which they probably have realized is the only effective deterrence to halt the alarmingly rising trend of grave crime.

It is indeed not surprising that criminals have scant regard for the law in the knowledge that even if they are caught and indicted, the chances of conviction are minimal.

The statistical probability of a criminal getting convicted, even if charged in court is a shocking 4%! This is, if anything, only a sad reflection of an inefficacious criminal justice system that obtains in the country today.

It is common knowledge that the prisons in the country, far from being reformatory institutions of delinquents and criminals, are now little more than the breeding grounds of hardened criminals! It is only too well known that criminal activities including drug trafficking, contract killings, heists, etc., are hatched and orchestrated by mafia bosses from within the confines of prison walls, using the handy cell-phone!

What can one expect when thugs, racketeers and people of criminal persuasion have a field day in the knowledge that the chances of their being incarcerated are somewhat remote.

It is, as a cynic put it, a matter of law and disorder! There have been Presidential Commissions appointed to examine and report on the current state of law and order in the country. The recommendations made in these Commission reports do not seem to have found favour in certain quarters which would be materially affected by their implementation.

This is most unfortunate as the criminal justice system of the country which should take a good share of the blame for the parlous state of affairs in this regard and which needs to go through a complete a complete revamping, continues to plod along the same tortuous ways and by-ways, much to the exasperation of the public.

Building up awareness

In Sri Lanka there is insufficient awareness, particularly among employers, of the dangers of drug abuse in the workplace. This stems primarily from a basic ignorance of the insidious nature of the problem coupled with a stronger propensity to wish away problems which is unfortunately a trait ingrained in our nature.

Till the problem manifests itself visibly and often tragically, the tendency is to try not to see it and hope that it would eventually "go away". It is indeed inexplicable that when drug offenders keep filling up our prisons and statistics reveal the highest addiction in the 20 to 35 year age group, very little is being done to build up awareness in the work place of the dangers and harmful effects of drug abuse.

Escapist attitude

For one to smugly surmise that the problem in the workplace is merely an extension of what takes place in larger society is a typically escapist attitude which would only encourage the unhindered growth of the problem in the workplace as well as the society at large.

It is necessary to impress on the employer as well as the employee that that workplace policies in this regard should be based on the rationale that the use of drugs in the workplace is totally unacceptable as it affects health, safety, productivity and equally importantly, undermines the security of the workplace, public confidence and trust.

Drug dependence would invariably enervate employee efficiency, work performance and employee dependability thereby posing a grave problem to the entire organization. Nationally, productivity losses through absenteeism, Iassitude and general inefficiency would be incalculable.

Pragmatic approach

A pragmatic approach to the problem of drugs in the workplace, particularly in the socio-cultural context of Sri Lanka, would involve a multi-dimensional approach which would include identification of the problem and its magnitude, education and building up awareness, formulation of preventive strategies and implementational programmes and finally, treatment and rehabilitation.

Drug trafficking being an area of organised criminal activity based on widespread corruption, the moral and social fabric of communities would be subjected to progressive erosion if such activity is not vigorously countered.

Such criminal activity being insidious by nature, difficulties would lie in estimating its spread. One noticeable problem in SriLanka is its unsettling impact on the criminal justice system by the increasing numbers of persons arrested for drug related offences.

A very high proportion of offenders consigned to remand prison are those taken in for drug related offences. It is therefore natural to expect widespread drug abuse inside prisons here. In fact, the estimated percentage of drug abuse in prisons in Sri Lanka viz.45%, is the highest in the Asia/Pacific region! This is indeed a graphic illustration of the enormous dangers to society that lie ahead unless drastic policy measures are not immediately put in place to curb the menace.

With increasing incomes and rapidly changing lifestyles the problem of controlling a growing illicit market for synthetic stimulants poses a new threat to authorities as such markets are dynamic and expansive and continually innovating to stay ahead of controls.

It is common knowledge that in night clubs, discotheques and even at private house parties in affluent households, teenagers are introduced to drugs like ecstasy.

Peer pressure leads initially to delicate experimentation with these synthetics by these teenagers who end up getting permanently hooked onto them. Tragically, most parents remain blissfully unaware of these going-on till it is too late.

In view of these alarming developments the need has arisen to develop the analytical capacity and the technical expertise to forecast such innovations by conducting research into the local demands for such stimulants as well the economic and social contexts within which the demand is articulated. This would enable the drawing up of appropriate preventive strategies to eventually eradicate the problem.

Authority

There has been a lot of euphoria of late, about the proposal being mooted to establish the above authority. This authority will, it is believed, have as its objective the control and the long term curbing of the consumption of illicit alcohol and cigarettes.

Although this appears to be done with the best of good intentions, having the health and well-being of the people in mind, the Government should at the same time be wary of the implications and the repercussions the proposal would have in the longer term.

One has only to look at the history of prohibition in the United States in the twenties and the thirties of the last century to see for oneself how disastrously such policies backfired and the damaging extent to which they were counter - productive of the originally posited end - objectives. The prohibition law was one of the most nationally damaging exercises undertaken by the United States.

Illicit distilleries

It immediately resulted in the proliferation of illicit distilleries and moonshine country-wide. It also led to the spawning of gangster networks controlling the illicit liquor industry and further saw the origins of the dreaded Mafia which spread its tentacles to every conceivable illegal activity, working as an 'informal empire' with controlling interests even in outwardly legitimate commercial enterprises, coming eventually to pose a serious threat even to legally constituted state authorities.

The concerned authorities here will have to be acutely mindful of all these adverse repercussions before enacting any draconian legal measures to control and curb the consumption of illicit alcohol and cigarettes. It is felt that the existing legislation to control illicit drugs is quite adequate if it is implemented assiduously.

In a fit of over-enthusiasm we should not find ourselves in the tragic predicament of falling from the proverbial frying pan right into the fire!

In the formulation of counter strategies to combat the drug menace, it is essential to take cognizance of certain global trends which are being facilitated by the electronic media and the use of sophisticated techniques of transportation combined with the enormous power and wealth behind the cartels that operate these international networks.

Any counter measures, to be effective, will have to match the sophistication and subtlety and deviously innovative methods of these traffickers.

There is also the invidious factor of narco-terrorism to be reckoned with. The large number of arrests and interdictions both locally and abroad have established irrefutably the link between drug trafficking and the Northern conflict.

For the terrorists, it is a double-edged weapon of eroding social and economic stability and a relatively easy way of acquiring the necessary finances to purchase arms and ammunition. In the final analysis, there is no gainsaying that, in a developing country like ours, it is only well formulated preventive strategies and implementational programmes that would make those involved in illicit drugs, move away from its production and consumption.