HOW EFFECTIVE IS MALTA'S WAR ON DRUGS?

That World Drugs Day does not suffer from the commercial trivialisation
that is becoming the lot of similar occasions is a measure of the
seriousness we are asked to bring to a condition that affects hundreds of
thousands of people across the world. As many who serve as role models for
our youths are steeped in the drug culture, the war against it is more
difficult. So, what should we be celebrating today? What should we be
getting to grips with?

It is important to guard against too negative an approach and attitudes
that are too optimistic. We need neither in our war on drugs. Too many
lives are being destroyed or maimed by a scourge that respects no class, no
intellect and no human condition to justify the latter.

Malta has not escaped this scourge.

You have only to follow the news to learn about successful drug busts by
our police (for which they do not receive the praise they deserve)
amounting, accumulatively over the years, to millions of liri. Heroin,
cocaine, ecstasy pills are daily on offer in our islands - a case in point
was the successful drugs raid in Zejtun only yesterday. Their supply
confirms a demand. So, total success will only be achieved when the demand
no longer exists. Regrettably, we are not in sight of that stage. Young
lives and lives not so young continue to be destroyed. Traffickers and
suppliers are far from being vanquished.

What, then, can we be optimistic about? First of all, the improved
vigilance of our police and Customs officers. Having said that, it is
appalling to read a letter such as that contributed to another newspaper by
a DJ. In it he castigates the anti-vice squad for not taking any action to
ban a leading DJ magazine "which unashamedly promotes drugs" even though he
had alerted the squad to the fact that a British monthly on sale in Malta
"targets youths and partygoers, depicting drugs as an essential accessory
to make the best out of partying". Banning such material is a social and
moral duty.

Second, we may reasonably be satisfied with our rehabilitation services.
The communications officer of Sedqa, the government agency against drug
abuse, told this newspaper: "Malta has a significantly better rate than its
European counterparts when it comes to the number of people who start and
complete their residential programmes and keep away from substance abuse
when they go back to society". That is good news but we must steer clear of
triumphalism. Positive though the agency's report may be, it is probably
the case that if nearly 1,000 drug users attended the Detox Centre last
year those who do not are at least as large.

At the end of the day, World Drugs Day helps us to take stock. It also
serves to remind families and schools that they are as essential to the
prosecution on the war on drugs as the police and our rehab services.

Parents and teachers are in a position to notice behaviour that indicates
something is wrong with children in their home and during school hours.
Friends, too, need to be taught that their first loyalty is not to their
friend but to the welfare of their friend.

If World Drugs Day is going to mean anything it is to emphasise the fact
that society as a whole, Church and State, parents, teachers, friends, have
to confront the supplier, the trafficker, the victim, with might and main.