Is there any hope to stop drug trafficking in Mauritius?

Before getting into the topic, sorry for not including relevant pictures in this post. If anyone has personal pictures of marijuana, cannabis, strawberry quick or C’est pas bien : please do send me. However, don’t blame me if a team of ADSU lands at your address. Thanks for your understanding.

Newspapers have been talking about drugs practically everyday during the past months. The situation has become even more alarming with the growing number of cases involving synthetic drugs (drogues synthétiques) and the daily arrests related to drug trafficking in the country. Of course, the famous statement of our local Donald Trump : “Pas de quoi s’alarmer” has created quite a ruckus too. One of the most recent cases is without any doubt the arrest of a police officer for drug trafficking and his alleged “suicide” has become the talk of the town.

Damn! How can someone be found dead after hanging himself using a towel and his washing basin tap in a prison cell?

On top of that, the declaration of the Prime Minister in the National Assembly today will most probably give the impression (unless I’m wrong) that he isn’t quite keen to deepen the investigations to know if the “suicide” was real or just a masquerade to prevent the police officer from talking.

What can you do?

At this point of time, we all know that it is no use depending on the action of the authorities. Drugs are not only known to be present in prisons or ghettos but nowadays they can even be found in educational institutions, including primary schools! To quote some stats, 17 cases have been registered in colleges during the first 6 months of 2016 while a total of 29 cases have been registered since Jan 2014 to Dec 2015 (Source Defimedia, 19 Jul 2016).

Some of the ways to play our role in protecting people around us, including our own kins and kids are

Education :

We have all been taught never to accept a gift or a sweet from strangers. While youngsters are the most vulnerable in colleges or universities, they are more mature than small innocent primary kids. While peer groups are often to be blamed, small kids have absolutely no idea what they are eating. That’s an additional reason to continually repeat this to our kids because of the widespread of drugs in different forms. Parents should spend more time knowing their kids, their friends and their habits without of course taking care to avoid being too much of a spy, breaching their privacy and being over-protective.

Alarm the authorities :

Any suspicious activities in your surroundings should be reported to the authorities. Drug trafficking can bring a lot of money but just don’t blame your neighbor if he buys an expensive car and house. He might have won a lottery after all. On a more serious note, don’t be part of this dirty game, even if your close friends are involved.

The damage to the country and population

The reputation of the country is slowing being put at stake especially if the authorities can’t be efficient at controlling the trafficking of drugs through the sea, on our roads and even in our educational institutions. Unfortunately, they are not always to be blamed as they are very often limited in terms of resources. But at the same time, isn’t it the role of the government to provide the necessary means to fight against drugs?

This brings us to the following point : Will legalizing drugs kill the black market? I do not have any stats to prove but I believe that smoking and alcoholic drinks probably kill more people than drugs but yet, smoking and alcohol are legal in the country.

To end the post, I will just ask a question : Cui bono?