THE ILLICIT DRUG TRADE AND JAMAICA

Illicit Drugs Provide Short-Term Gains For A Few, But Long-Term Losses For
Many. - File

(The illegal drug trade in Jamaica in 2002 is the subject of comment in the
Report of the United Nations International Narcotics Control Board (INCB),
a United Nations publication, and in the International Narcotics Control
Strategy Report 2003, published by the Bureau for International Narcotics
and Law Enforcement Affairs, US Department of State.

INCB is an independent and quasi-judicial control organ established by
treaty, for monitoring the implementation of international drug control
treaties. Its 13 members are elected by the Economic and Social Council of
the United Nations. The following are some highlights of the INCB Report
which were compiled by Lloyd Williams, Senior Associate Editor:)

THE UNITED Nations International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) has
expressed concern at efforts in Jamaica to decriminalise the personal use
of ganja here.

According to the INCB report for 2002, trafficking in cannabis (ganja) in
the Caribbean has declined over the last two decades. It cites the example
of Belize and Jamaica where, it said, the total area under cannabis
cultivation in 1980 was estimated to be five times the area currently under
cannabis cultivation.

Stating that the reduction had been achieved through intensive eradication
campaigns, INCB commented: "Despite those efforts, Jamaica continues to be
an important source of supply for illicit markets in North America and, to
some extent, the Eastern Caribbean; it also constitutes the main illicit
market for cannabis in the Caribbean.

"The Board therefore notes with concern the attempts to decriminalise the
personal use of cannabis in Jamaica and in a number of other Caribbean
countries."

SOCIAL PROBLEM

This is a reference to the Report of the National Commis-sion on Ganja,
which in August 2001, recommended, among other things, that:

"The relevant laws be amended so that ganja be decriminalised for the
private, personal use of small quantities by adults."

The INCB points out that the world drug problem was often seen primarily as
a social problem, arguing that that was understandable, as the insidious
long-term effects of chronic drug abuse and its impact on the drug abuser,
the family, the community and the society were obvious. Stating that there
were other aspects of the drug problem that were common throughout the
world, it reviewed the economic consequences of illicit crop cultivation
and the illicit drug trade.

On the issue of illicit drugs and economic development, INCB concluded that
drug control efforts should take account of the following:

*Illicit drugs provide short-term gains for a few, but long-term losses for
many.

*The drug problem is to be considered in the overall economic and
development context of a country;

NOT FEASIBLE

*There are well-established multilateral mechanisms for dealing with both
the drug problem and the development problem, and the two mechanisms have
to be better integrated as long-term economic development in a country is
not feasible without an effective drug control system;

*In countries with high unemployment, illicit drug production and
trafficking provide considerable employment opportunities but jeopardise
the development of human capital;

*Small farmers derive, in the short term, economic benefits from illicit
drug crop cultivation, but the sums of these benefits is less than one per
cent of the turnover from the world's illicit drug trade;

*Ninety-nine per cent of the value-added in the global illicit drug trade
is generated by trafficking at the national and international levels;

*The bulk of the profits from the illicit drug trade are made in developed
countries; however the economic impact of the drug problem is felt more in
d eveloping countries, where the value of the illicit trade represents a
larger proportion of the economy than in developed countries;

FIREARMS

*There is generally a negative correlation between illicit drug production
and the economic growth of a country;

*The illicit drug production and the related economic activities compromise
long-term economic development because of their destabilising effects on
the state, the economic and civil society.

*Drug trafficking in the Caribbean and South America continues to be linked
with trafficking in firearms and to be facilitated by corruption. Illicit
drugs and arms are sometimes used as interchangeable commodities. Most of
the firearms come from countries such as El Salvador and Nicaragua, where
civil conflicts have ended, resulting in large caches of firearms, and are
transported to guerrilla insurgency groups in countries in South America,
mainly Colombia.

*The emergence of a drug economy can result in the destabilisation of the
state, the political system, the economy and civil society. The
destabilisation of the political system relates to the ability of the
illicit drug industry to finance electoral campaigns and corruption, as
well as insurgency, terrorism and organised crime. Destabilisation of the
economy takes on various forms:

EXCHANGE RATE

a) It undermines macroeconomic decisions to counter the flow of illicit
profits, thus creating high interest rates and crowding out legitimate
investment;

b) It brings about an overvalued exchange rate as a result of the inflow of
illicit profits, diminishing legitimate exports;

c) It promotes illegal business and unfair competition, including obstacles
put on legitimate business;

d) It encourages conspicuous consumption at the expense of long-term
investment;

e) It encourages investment in non-productive sectors, and,

f) It exacerbates unequal income distribution.

*The illicit drug industry can destabilise not only the state and the
economy but civil society as well. This can happen as a result of increased
levels of crime (gang wars, kidnappings, extortion); the erosion of social
capital; compromised rule of law; the corruption of the elite and or the
political system; gambling and prostitution; drug abuse: and the loss of
community cohesion.

*The main symptom or manifestation of the destabilisation of civil society
is the rising levels of crime, notably violent crime, which has a strong
impact on consumption patterns (such as the need to pay for security
services); and on individual freedom (notably freedom of movement).
Drug-related crime includes acquisitive crime, gang wars, violence in
public spaces, extortion and kidnapping.

SUSTAINABLE

*Legalisation: "The truth is that there are no safe ways to abuse drugs".

*Progress has been made in recent years in most countries in the
development and adoption of more appropriate drug control legislation and
the establishment of national and subregional institutions and co-operation
mechanisms.

INCB points out that to be sustainable and to ensure the implementation of
the legislation, those officials need appropriate funding from sources
within and outside of Central America and the Caribbean. It called on
Canada, the United States, and countries in Europe, as the main
destinations of the illicit drug shipments, not to reduce their drug
control assistance in favour of measures against terrorism, but to look for
new ways to combine both.