In recent times, there have been a lot of reports about drugs in The Gambia. Just in the past few days, officers of the Drug Law Enforcement Agency have seized over two kilograms of cocaine at the Banjul International Airport. These were on a Senegalese national en route to Spain.
Earlier, there was a lot of discussion about missing blocks of cocaine at one of the magistrate courts in the country. Officials of the court and those of the Drug Law Enforcement Agency traded accusations on who might have switched the blocks for something else. This s worrying to say the least.
What all this shows is the serious problem the issue of drugs is becoming in The Gambia. It is well-known what happens when the drug trade has stranglehold on a country. It corrupts almost everyone and increases the rate of violent crime in the country. People begin killing each other like flies and it becomes almost impossible to stem the tide.
Poverty and unemployment are some of the causes of drug abuse which both have links to crime. This should therefore be taken extremely seriously in order to mitigate its effects which can be devastating for a nation. To fight against drugs and their use, a holistic approach must be found.
Firstly, everything humanly possible should be done to reduce the rate of unemployment and thus poverty reductions. If the youth are unemployed and therefore poor and needy, many can easily turn to drugs in order to drown away their sorrows. With an increase in such numbers, drug dealers have a fertile ground to push their drugs.
Once the drugs are in the country, unemployed young people may soon begin to waste their lives in the streets and with it the lives of ordinary citizens. This demands a very complex and comprehensive battle plan to defeat the drugs and their dealers. An inter-agency outfit is needed to take a closer look at it and come up with a plan to stem the inflow of drugs.
The government must therefore tighten its belt to ensure that the issue of drugs is put to rest.
