COMMUNITIES MUST ACT TO END MENACE

Statement from the Executive Director of the United Nations International
Drug Control Program, Pino Arlacchi, on the occasion of the International
Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

VIOLENCE goes hand in hand with drugs all the way from the production of
substances to the addict in the street. In undertaking to grow an illegal
crop, the farmer opens himself to exploitation and intimidation. What may
appear to be an advance credit against a high-value crop can easily become
the basis for an open-ended dependency on criminals who exploit the poverty
of the farmer.

Those who traffic in drugs generally do so in order to make money. In a
long list of conflicts around the world, the profits are used to purchase arms.

These are the same arms that kill or maim huge numbers of civilians who
have the misfortune to live in conflict zones. Their only crime may well be
to have the wrong ethnicity, religion or political beliefs.

The effort to stop the flow of drugs takes a heavy toll on those whose job
it is to meet the traffickers head-on.

This is an opportune moment to pay tribute to the thousands of individuals
who have lost their lives in interdicting drug traffic. Law enforcement
officers, judges, prosecutors and social workers have far too often paid
the highest price.

The addict faces a constant threat of violence in the nether world of drug
dealing. His options to protect himself are limited by his craving for the
drugs.

Our challenge is to stop this violence, which is tearing apart whole
communities and we have had enough. No family, no community and no country
should tolerate a drug trafficker in its midst.

They must be seen as the exploiters that they are, making profits as
merchants of misery.

The challenge also lies with each of us as we confront drug abuse in our
own communities.

We know that well-conceived drug abuse prevention programs work. The list
of success stories around the world is growing. I challenge each and every
community to become part of that list. Our young people deserve nothing less.

There are positive alternatives to the culture of drug abuse, and they need
not be expensive. But they require the support and involvement of parents,
teachers, the business community and political leaders.

Role models from the worlds of sport and entertainment can also give the
positive message our young people need to hear. We have a growing list of
celebrities who are helping us around the world. The same can be done in a
local setting.

When we succeed in ejecting drug abuse from our communities, we will see
that we have made a major step forward in ejecting violence as well. We
must send the merchants of misery elsewhere, and continue doing so until
there remains no place left for them to go.

On this International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, I
call on every community to pull together and rid itself of this threat to
the security and well-being of its residents.