Without drugs, there would be no doctors, nurses, no medical science, no pharmacopia and no hospitals. We can’t do without drugs in their natural form or processed by the pharmaceutical companies into pills and potions. All drugs have beneficial effects, but some have other properties which appeal to the misguided.
There is a class of drugs designated as narcotics, which are known to be harmful and addictive, that the lawmakers in many countries have forbidden its citizens by law from manufacturing, selling or using on pain of punishment. The purpose of such laws being to protect the individual from hurting himself directly and others indirectly.
In the interests of good health and public safety, no effort is spared and no expense is considered too great by the governments of countries where narcotics are prohibited, to educate their citizens about the terrible consequences of indulging in their use, with less success than may reasonably be expected. In the face of all that governments have done and are doing to discourage its citizens from acquiring the drug habit, the fact that the number of users is increasing should be a matter for serious inquiry and study.
The evidence of the grave dangers which the habitual use of narcotics represent is overwhelming. So many of our acquaintances have fallen victims of their own folly that we can have no doubt that the warnings given by the different agencies about the dire consequences of drug abuse are true. No one can plead ignorance for the utter stupidity of deciding to partake of these substances. Why, then, does the drug trade persist and so many supposedly intelligent individuals fall prey to it? There must be a reasonable explanation for their behaviour.
There are many citizens who like myself, are of a questioning turn of mind, who have tried to understand the behaviour of persons they regard as sensible and worldly wise that become drug users and eventually derelicts. We ask ourselves how could someone like Mr. B and Mr. L be so foolish as to pay someone else to provide the means of their own destruction. It boggles the mind, does it not?
There are two cases I know of that will illustrate how difficult it is to understand how it can come about that seemingly well-adjusted, sensible, solid and successful citizens, can destroy themselves through the use of narcotics.
Mr. B, a well known, well-liked member of the upper middle class, was well off but not wealthy. He found his vocation after graduating from high school, educated himself in his chosen profession, which was to become a printer and go into business for himself. He worked and saved, and with a small loan bought his first small printing press. He became highly skilled in the art of printing, and by industry and good business management acquired a complete set of printing and assorted equipment. He had a wide circle of friends and business associates, who appreciated him for his kindness, wit and pleasing personality.
Then, either he discovered or was introduced to the pleasures of taking cocaine. I am told that snorting cocaine gives you a very wonderful feeling the first time, which naturally makes you want to enjoy it again. But, you need a little more of the substance to reach the same high as on the first occasion, and so on, and so on. He used up all his resources, then, sold his printing equipment to pay for his cocaine habit. It must have been to his supplier like finding a gold mine when he sold or gave Mr. B his first snort.
Mr. L was a young man who had a gift. He had the ability to communicate very well and was a fine storyteller. It was great fun to be in his company. He had other talents, all having to do with the social. It was natural for him to gravitate to politics and he found his niche in life when one of the brightest stars in the Belizean political spectrum recognized his talents and found a place for him in his organization. His fortunes rose and fell with the political party he served. His talents were made good use of, and in exchange his rewards were great. He became a man of substance, power and influence, married and respectable.
Then, something happened. This is an assumption, not a fact. Something unusual must have happened to make this man, so canny and street wise, turn to cocaine and then to crack. His decline was swift.
These two men had their reasons to turn to drugs, assuming they did so after reflection, as thousand of others have done to their regret. They probably thought they were exercising their God-given right to choose to take a particular substance into their bodies. All would have been well if there was someone or some organization to take care of them when they could no longer take care of themselves. Or, if the item which had enslaved them was readily available and did not cost so much. But, the item was very expensive and the supplier did not give credit. They were victims of their own folly, as were thousands of others. However, they would not be in this desperate situation if the drug was in plentiful supply and affordable, as it would be if there were no laws prohibiting it. In fact, if there were no laws prohibiting it, there would be no pushers to entice and seduce.
The driving force behind the drug trade is its profitability. That is why men of substance and daring and an enterprising spirit will risk their resources and their liberty to venture into it. There are great risks indeed, but the rewards are irresistible. These are the new buccaneers – bold, cunning and ruthless. For them drugs are a commodity and they are engaged in a business. They would succeed in any other venture, just that they wouldn’t get so rich, so quick, as they do in the drug trade, for the simple reason that when you trade in goods which are legal, there is more competition and the market forces determine prices and profitability.
We call the new buccaneers, drug lords or dons. They are respectable citizens, wealthy and influential. They are never charged with any crime but, if they were, they would most probably never be tried in court. They are the heads of organizations with functionaries at different levels, including enforcers to establish discipline in the rank and file and punish offenses against their interests. The rank and file are the so-called pushers. They make their living by making sales to the potential victims. Theirs is a good living because, after the initial sale, the victim becomes dependent on the drug and its supplier.
Despite all the efforts of the agencies charged with the task of drug interdiction and suppression and, despite the efforts of governments to educate their citizens about the dangers of narcotic use and, despite the overwhelming evidence of how the lives of those who are heedless of warnings are destroyed, the demand for these substances increases, and that demand is met by suppliers.
There is no doubt that, as in the era of Prohibition against alcoholic beverages, the institution of laws prohibiting narcotics has had a similar effect in the increase of violent crimes which are related to the drug trade. At least half of the violent crimes committed in Belize are drug related.
There were ninety-seven murders in Belize last year, and the trend continues. If there was no drug trade, half of them, or forty-eight lives, could have been saved, except for the laws prohibiting narcotics. There is a direct correlation between the two. I think it is time that our political leaders consider what steps they have to take to improve the situation, not by themselves but along with the other leaders in the region. Something has to be done because the status quo can no longer be tolerated.