The drug trade

The drug scene is anything but funny. Almost every day someone is arrested for either trafficking or possession. These days the police simply cannot find people who are using at the time of the arrest but this was not always the case. Young and wannabe Rastas, convinced that marijuana was a drug created by their omnipotent, Jah, smoked like there was no tomorrow. The drug had just made its re-entry to Guyana and before long marijuana use was fashionable among the young. Getting ‘high’ was the dream many chased. There was no public youth forum where the pungent smell of marijuana was not present. Because of its allure to the young the drug became increasingly in demand. People soon derived an economic activity from marijuana. Then came cocaine and with it the Narcotics and Psychotropic Control Act which prescribed draconian punishment. For example, a man earned the death penalty if he sold a narcotic on the grounds of a school and the child died. What makes the situation more noteworthy is the growing number of people who recognize the economic opportunities that drug trafficking presents. There is great demand for cocaine in Europe and North America. Such is the demand in those overseas markets that the price had made cocaine an attractive proposition. Guyanese were a relatively laid back people until the advent of cocaine in the society and as has been the case in every country where cocaine became a prominent feature, there followed Death—violent death. Cocaine has come to Guyana and has been here for as long as this administration has been ruling Guyana and many things have changed. People have chased after this drug for various reasons; some because of the immense wealth it offers and others because of the craving the drug induces. For either reason people have killed, some because they were being cheated out of their earnings or their share of the usage. The drug trade has led to the creation of a brand of people who see no value in human life. They become impersonal and even callous. People have been known to place drugs in corpses for shipment overseas. Although not in our corner of the world, people have been known to kill babies and to stuff the corpse with cocaine. There are many people who now live like kings because of cocaine and marijuana they made so much money, almost too much to count but the bottom is falling out of the trade. The exporters are finding it increasingly difficult to ship out the drug some call ‘white lady’. This difficulty is not doing justice to the image of the country but it surely heightened the ingenuity. We have shipped cocaine in fish, in lumber, in coconuts, in vegetables and in molasses. When those failed we have tried exotic fruits like the awarra. Dissolving cocaine in pharmaceuticals and in alcohol has been tried to the point where just recently, a family died after consuming what the family members thought was a tonic. We have also had people transporting cocaine in their bodies, either by swallowing or by hiding the drug in body cavities. Many have died and just last week one was in hospital performing his normal bodily duties in public view because the authorities wanted the drug he happened to be carrying. To think that this man was a national sportsman boggles the mind although he is not the first nor would he be the last. Before him there were motor racers, racing cyclists, boxers and cricketers. Then we have had people plant drug on their invalided parents We have now come to the point where young males are convinced that there is no way out of their unemployment cycle other than by being drug mules and pushers. But this cannot be the case. We know that the lure of big money is the calling card and that the risk of capture and imprisonment does not faze the drug mule or the dealer. Why else would a man and his son be fetching drugs to the United States? Why would a woman and her son be doing the same thing? We are not talking about better drug pursuit but we are certain that the situation would remain critical for years to come.