A CALL TO BATTLE

Today is the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit
Trafficking. What are we going to do about it? That "we" embraces the
whole of society, from the law enforcers to the drug pushers and the
drug abusers, to parents and their friends, their teachers, their
employers, the owners of sleazy bars and squeaky-clean establishments
or hotels where transactions are made, where at some momentous times
in their lives, youngsters or their elders take the horrendous
decision to "try one, to see how it feels".

It remains strange that on an island the size of ours, the pushers and
the traffickers and the big ones remain difficult to track down,
although much has been done and is being done by the police. One big
step remains to be taken: nailing down the Big Fish himself/herself to
break the back of the drug problem in Malta. Easier said than done;
that much is obvious.

Statistics compiled by the National Focal Point for Drugs and Drug
Addiction show the estimated number of problematic drug users, that is
"current daily heroin users" aged between 15 and 64, is in the region
of 1,500 to 1,700.

The figure is so awesome one is compelled to ask how much of an
estimate it is and how much of it is empirically based? It also gives
an idea of the huge amounts of money that go into the pockets of the
pushers and the faceless agents of death that "employ" them.

Where does all the money come from to pay for the ruinous habit? How
much of that money has crime as its source?

At the social level, the level of family, friendship and employment,
that is, the habits of a "daily heroin user" ought to be identifiable,
his or her performance or behaviour at school or in the workplace
ought to be detectable in one way or another: Lack of productivity,
absence of concentration, inability to function normally to take but
three characteristics that should show up. If we are correct, the
implications are that there may be friends, teachers, parents and
employers walking on the other side of the road, a morally and
ethically alarming thought.

There is in all this a beacon of light and hope provided by Caritas,
an organisation set up by Mgr Victor Grech and performing sterling
work of rehabilitation for those who seek it. The picture of him
carried last Saturday hugging a graduate who had successfully
completed the Caritas two-year programme must be one he and the
graduate will carry in their minds for the rest of their lives. It is
also a ray of hope to those genuinely wishing to get back on the right
track but find so many hurdles along the way. Other agencies - Sedqa,
Oasi, the Substance Abuse Therapeutic Unit and the Dual Diagnosis Unit
at Mount Carmel Hospital - also contribute enormously to rehabilitate
sheep that were lost, so many prodigal sons and daughters.

These organisations are owed an enormous debt of gratitude by society
and the government, which should find a way of increasing its aid to
these who deal with the wounded even as it declares a fiercer war on
those who consciously wound them, who deliberately maim them for
filthy lucre. The courts too need to be more aware of this threat to
society, present and future.

For it is feared by Mariella Balzan, the coordinator of the Caritas
New Hope drug rehabilitation programmes and services, that the numbers
of the wounded will grow. It is a gruesome thought, a call to battle.