An official at the Anti-Narcotics Commission in Jeddah said the Kingdom’s efforts to fight drugs ranked as the third most powerful of its kind in the world. In the same statement officials cited the social tragedies resulting from drug abuse but insisted drug trafficking in the Kingdom did not amount to organized crime as it did in other countries.
To tell the truth, I couldn’t understand the link between describing a force as being the third most powerful, the social tragedies resulting from drug abuse and the 5,000 former addicts who have been rehabilitated.
In other countries, drug trafficking amounts to organized crime but here this is not the case. We are told drugs are being smuggled into the country on an individual basis and the cases are isolated.
The official did not specify on what basis the Kingdom’s efforts ranked third in the world; was this because of the huge resources it enjoys or because of the record number of foiled attempts to smuggle drugs into the country?
Being the third most powerful anti-drug agency, the department should be dealing with the third most powerful drug trafficking force in the world. Demographics and geography considered, the department has to deal with a well-organized trafficking movement. Otherwise, why set up a powerful anti-drug body if the threat is not real?
Playing down things is not part of the education and enlightenment process, and it shouldn’t be since such a policy would only result in killing the truth and cause more damage than benefit.
Drug abuse remains a major problem, as shown by the presence of all these treatment and rehabilitation centers. This is an indication that trafficking does go on in an orderly manner, with the Kingdom being a major market.
Why then not tell us the facts? We continue to hear about the number of people who stopped using drugs but not of those who died or whose lives have been shattered.
These cliches issued by some officials are only meant to satisfy their superiors. Things have changed a lot around us, but some people continue to resist change.
The media, too, has contributed to this, with some journalists publishing any news sent by public relations departments without asking questions or seeking statistics. The only thing they ask the PR people is to send the picture of the official who gave the statement.
Arab News From the Local Press 26 July 2003
