THE world of narcotic drugs is an ever-changing scenario. It is a daily ding-dong battle of wits between the world's embattled law-enforcement agencies and the international purveyors of the drugs. They are backed by enormous wealth and all the expensive technological tools of evasion and the pervasive corruption their wealth can buy.Jamaica, as the largest producer and exporter of ganja (marijuana) in the region and a major transit point for South American cocaine bound for North America and Europe, is a major battleground in the so-called drug war.
A high official of the Bush Administration disclosed in Kingston last week that the United States Government had not yet developed its narcotics drug policy for the Caribbean, not having come up with its own national drug and drug-control policy.
In going ahead with developing its policy, we think it might just be the right time for the Bush Administration to take a fresh new look at the whole drug scene from an entirely new perspective; for what it is worth.
Take Jamaica, for example. In 2001, the first year of the first millennium, the ganja trade is alive and well; cocaine is more available than ever, the price is cheaper, the purity is higher.
In the United States there is now a move in the Senate to suspend for two years, the annual certification process whereby the U.S. Government assesses unilaterally the compliance of various countries with efforts to curtail the flow of illegal drugs.
The argument is that the arbitrary, unilateral and subjective certification process "does not...foster effective and consistent bilateral or multilateral co-operation" with U.S. efforts to curb the drug trade and that it sometimes alienates the very allies whose co-operation the U.S. seeks.
It is argued also that the certification process, which invariably creates friction among countries, does not come with any reciprocal accountability from Washington, D.C.
In place of certification there is another mechanism that could be looked at. It is the Multilateral Evaluation Mechanism (MEM) whereby each of the 34 members of the Organisation of American States including Jamaica - appoints a drug policy expert to help assess the nature of the drug threat in the other 33 countries.
This could foster the spirit of collaboration and respect the sovereignty of each state.
