EDITORIAL : THE NEW STRAITS TIMES, MALAYSIA

 

 

No respite for pushers

AS dirty cops have been suspected of stealing drugs from the evidence room, dealing with drugs or using drugs, there is little doubt that the reported plan to reshuffle the Federal Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department is in order. Failure to take preventive measures, such as the proposed job rotation, or disciplinary action following internal investigations would be unacceptable. The propensity for organised criminal networks to collude with law enforcement agencies in a lucrative nexus of crime is well known. As such, no effort should be spared in sanitising the Royal Malaysian Police from the possible corrupting influences of the sleazy illicit trade.

Of course, the fact that drug trafficking remains a serious problem in the country cannot be blamed on corruption alone. In fact, every year, the police crack down on thousands of drug-related offenders and seize millions of pills and hundreds of kilos of narcotics. From January to June 19 this year, 5,700 smugglers, peddlers and pushers were arrested, and 11 clandestine drug laboratories were raided. Three foreign drug traffickers were also sentenced to death in the first four months of the year. Still, the draconian laws and drug busts do not appear to have had a significant impact on the supply of drugs. International drug syndicates use the country as a staging area to distribute their drugs in other countries and are "increasingly turning to Malaysia as a regional production hub for crystal methamphetamine and Ecstasy", according to the US State Department. On Thursday, the World Drug Report 2011 highlighted the re-emergence of Myanmar as a major heroin producer and a prime source of the synthetic drugs that are "sweeping" across East Asia. With our proximity to the Golden Triangle and our strategic position in the regional smuggling routes, this surge in regional production and usage clearly poses new challenges to the goal of being drug-free by 2015.

Some, like the members of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, have concluded that the global war on drugs has failed, and it is time to legalise the use and sale of drugs. For some time now, of course, we have come to view drug addiction as a disease that can be successfully treated rather than a crime. But it is one thing to treat users with sympathy and another thing to treat traffickers with kid gloves. As the United Nations Secretary-General said on Thursday, drug traffickers break more than the law. They break the human spirit and rob societies of peace. For this reason, we should resolve to pursue the pushers with the full brunt of the law.