Suggesting that we need armed military squads to back up police in its fight against peddlers is not only absurd, but will more likely than not compound an already precarious situation. And in no time turn Fiji into a mini Mexico with raging gun battles going on during drug raids, with innocent lives lost, due to negligence, mistaken identity or people just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
In a February 16, 2024 report, police have recorded 169 illicit drug cases in January compared with 87 for the same period last year, which represents a 94 per cent increase. However, our drug problem did not suddenly explode over the past 17 months since the 2022 elections, it has been brewing for years.
For instance, according to the latest crime cases recorded (2020) by the Bureau of Statistics:

• 288 cases in 2012;
  217 cases in 2013;
  383 cases in 2014;
  479 cases in 2015:;
  524 cases in 2016;
  750 cases in 2017;
  1124 cases in 2018; and
  1273 cases in 2019.

The increase in drug cases over the eight-year period from 2012 to 2019 was 985 which represents 342 per cent, and that was five years ago! Unfortunately our statistics are three years behind!
Now this 342 per cent increase in drug related crimes is despite Fiji taxpayers paying out $1.6 billion for our police over the same period.
One potential side effect of this suggestion of using armed squads is our tourism industry, which currently contributes about 40 per cent to our GDP. The number one reason why some 800,000 tourists come here every year and spend billions is for the family friendly Fijian people.
However, the Reserve Bank is projecting a “deceleration” of its growth in 2024 as the momentum tapers off, so currently many businesses are experiencing the downturn. So let’s say the Government goes along with this armed military support squad for the police, and a group of tourists enjoying a sightseeing tour just happens to pass by the site of an armed raid, and getting caught in the crossfire with some fatalities, just imagine the catastrophic impact for the country if this were to happen.
Make no mistake, it happens and it will surely happen here if the Government makes the mistake of taking this route. Let’s pray good sense will prevail.
But that aside, our people have put up with enough over the past 37 years of military induced suffering and hardship costing the country and the citizens billions of dollars, including the loss of lives, homes and families, without any accountability for their part in any of the people’s suffering and deaths. So thank you for the suggestion, but no thank you!
If we have not already done so, we should talk to our neighbours New Zealand and Australia or Interpol or any commonwealth country that has the best success rate in dealing with drugs, ask them to help, hire the best there is to assist police.
Instead of bullets we must use the powers of our Parliament to enact laws that are stringent and act as real deterrents for anyone thinking of engaging in using or peddling drugs. With new measures like an automatic mandatory imprisonment without bail for all offenders with extended terms for repeat offenders.
For users we must establish proper rehabilitation centres so all addicts can receive proper treatment and counselling during their incarceration so that hopefully by the time their sentence is up and they are clear of their addiction, they can return to society ready to start over, free of their drug addiction.
But must also provide the same counselling and welfare support to the families of users, so they learn how to deal with their troubled loved ones, so that once released the family is better prepared to deal with their addicted member and hopefully they can all get back to living a productive and happy life that is drug free.
This is not a problem that the police alone can solve. It is a national problem and requires a national effort to effectively resolve.
Remember, while today it might be someone else’s child who’s addicted, tomorrow it may well be yours.
So we should embark on a national campaign involving churches, communities and social welfare agencies and champions to educate our families on the harmful effects of drugs and determine through surveys the circumstance that drive a member of a family into dealing or using drugs and develop preventive and welfare support strategies that will act as a countermeasure to prevent families from drifting into or back into a situation that exposes them to drug use or peddling.
As I alluded to earlier, our drug crisis did not just appear over the past 17 months, it has been brewing for years prior as the statistics I have referred to above show. When you consider the quantity of drugs and the billions of dollars in street value involved, it has to mean the dealers had protection and cover at every level. We need establish a top special investigative squad (with the best expertise in the detection of drug users and peddlers) recruiting the best that we can hire internationally as well to investigate and flush out all who have been involved in facilitating and enabling the drug crisis to get to the stage it has,and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.
I appreciate that these suggestions may already be in the pipeline. It will not solve the entire problem, but it can surely make a meaningful start to breaking up the tentacles involved within the system that provide cover and ‘life support’ necessary for drugs in Fiji to flourish, poisoning our youths, and destroying their future wellbeing and lives which is the real tragedy.

•  MICK BEDDOES is a former politician, former member of Parliament (2001 & 2006) former leader of the opposition (Apr 2002-Nov 2004) & (Jun 2006-Aug 2014), former businessman, entertainer, currently retired & a public commentator on matters of national interest. The views expressed in this article are his and not of this newspaper.