A policeman examines illegal drugs recovered in a major bust. - FileThe following is a presentation by Gladstone Wright, Superintendent of Police at the Narcotics Division, to members of the Young Economist Association of the West, Mona, on February 27.
THE NARCOTICS Division began in 1974 as a small squad within the Criminal Investigation Branch. It evolved into a division and in 1980 moved to its current location. It has now been decentralised with offices in all police geographical areas of the island.
The division is responsible for leading the anti-narcotics campaign to reduce supplies of illicit narcotics drugs in Jamaica.
It is also responsible for liaison with local and international agencies in this effort, in so far as their situation is affected by Jamaica.
The Narcotics Division is also involved in the demand reduction activities. That is, increasing the awareness of the consequences of the consumption of illegal narcotic drugs. This is rightly a function of the Ministry of Health, however, because of our experiences in daily activities, we found it prudent to dedicate members of staff to assist in this endeavour and for the period 1999-2002 we were able to sensitise 40,000 persons.
Over the years, we have found the division has become even more relevant, as the international narcotics trade expands its tentacles into various countries including Jamaica.
Jamaica's geographical location makes it overly susceptible to infiltration by international traffickers, not to exclude our own local participators. It would take a very long time to go through the statistics of the Narcotics Division for its period of existence, hence, we will concentrate primarily on the last four years, 1999-2002. Over this period, the police interdicted:
10,873 kg or 23,920.06 lb. of cocaine
213,279.24 kg or 496,213.08 lb. of marijuana
2,349 kg or 5,168.09 lb. of hash oil
14,193 pieces of crack-cocaine
5,079 Ecstasy tablets
10.32 million seedlings of marijuana
2,163.05 hectares of marijuana
320 marijuana (ganja nurseries)
The police collectively arrested 27,289 persons for various offences under the Dangerous Drug Act.
Over the years the Government of Jamaica has been collaborating and co-operating with international agencies to minimise the impact of the trade on the Jamaican society. This in itself has a level of reciprocity as the Jamaican situation also impacts on their countries.
It is very difficult to discuss the drug trade and its impact on economic activities in Jamaica without taking into account the interconnectedness with social issues, and how they impact negatively on the Jamaican society. A few of these are as follows:
1. The impact on narcotics-related murders and other major crimes.
2. The decline in moral values
3. The negative impact on family life
4. The negative impact on the educational system and on production and productivity amongst workers.
In looking at the drug trade and its impact on economic activities in Jamaica, we need to look at the word economy. According to the Pocket Oxford Dictionary, economy is 'a community's system of wealth creation, and or careful management of especially financial resources'.
In Jamaica, and no doubt in other Caribbean countries, formerly economists, journalists, students at universities and others generally speak and write about two different economies within the national economy, and these are: The formal economy and the informal economy. However, in recent times we have seen the emergence of a third economy, the underground economy; and I will define all three for you.
(a) The formal economy, in which we have legal and regulated business activities being carried out in registered small, medium and large-scale enterprises across all sectors.
(b) The informal economy, in which we have legal, but unregulated business activities, being carried on in mostly micro-business, with own account or sole trader of family based business and
(c) The underground economy, in which we have illegal and unregulated business activities in areas such as the narco trade and money laundering.
Incomes earned from narco-business will have to find a resting place in the wider economy. Some of the sectors and industries where we should expect to see some of the interfacing with narco-dealers include the construction industry (for example, building of plazas and houses), the distribution sector (for example, in the importation and distribution of motor vehicles) and the acquisition of land.
During the financial years 1997 to 2001, some 126,000 motor vehicles with a C.I.F. value of over US$1 billion were imported into Jamaica. I am throwing it out as a challenge to you, as students involved in economic and social research to raise certain questions and try to find answers to a number of the puzzles, which confront the society from time to time.
So, for example, the official trade statistics indicate an overall decline of approximately nine per cent in export earnings from goods between 1997 and 2001. Over the same period, the increase in foreign exchange earnings from tourism helped to offset the fall-off in earnings from the export of commodities, such as sugar, bananas, and garments.
REMITTANCE INFLOWS
Remittance inflows bring in between US$600 million to US$800 million annually. Also, over that period, interest rates on commercial bank loans to all areas of business were at an all-time high in Jamaica, especially between 1997 and 2000. And, therefore, over that period we did not have any major expansion in bank credit to business in the motor vehicle importation sector, or to any other sector of the economy.
And so you should ask the question; how or why during a period of general economic decline and stagnation the motor vehicle importation and distribution industry flourished? What causes the thriving business in motor vehicle importation and distribution?
There is another matter that I wish to put to you for some research and this is especially to the students in the social sciences of economics, sociology and politics.
Data on the narco trade reveal that an overwhelming majority of the persons who have been interdicted for drug offences fall into the following general socio-economic profile:
Many (if not the vast majority) are young unemployed persons from poor families.
Some are employed persons, but with very low levels of salary.
Many persons have very low levels of education.
Many persons have low self-esteem and poor ethical and moral values.
Some persons seek to get rich quick and are driven by greed, as is evident by some recent arrests.
In your research, you should be able to establish and analyse the extent to which stagnation; informal business activities might contribute to a thriving narco trade. I suggest that when formal business activities are not vibrant and growing; and providing employment opportunities for young people who are coming into the job market from the school system, then the narco trade acts as a saviour for many of these people, at the margin of the economy and society.
These are the persons who are sucked up as cheap labour and are paid fairly good returns, if they are willing to take the high risks involved to become employed as drug couriers, drug retailers, drug wholesalers and 'security' service providers for the narco trade.
The phenomenal rise in persons arrested as couriers at our ports speaks eloquently to this, especially for ingestion.
The narco trade and money laundering pose major risks and problems for many of the established institutions in the society. And the entire society needs to be informed about the nature of the monster in our midst. The narco trade and money laundering are well-developed global operations and so are not unique to Jamaica.
NEFARIOUS ACTIVITIES
An article in the Business section of The Gleaner of March 20, 2002 outlined a wide range of areas where narco dealers and money launderers can use to carry out their nefarious activities. These areas include banks, credit unions, insurance companies, stockbrokers, casinos, accountants, attorneys-at-law, real estate companies, jewellers, antique dealers, coins and stamp dealers.
This presentation is not intended to pinpoint any individual who is involved but areas in which you may find some of the answers to the puzzle.
Please remember that wealth is a function of innovation and creativity and so there are many persons and organisations out there doing exceptionally well and are not involved in anything nefarious. Hence, you cannot just look at persons who are doing well and come to the conclusion without proper investigation that they are involved in drugs.
I think that this short presentation should give you some indications of the magnitude of the problem confronting the Government and our society at large.
You, as students at this university, have a responsibility to research and study the problems and to bring your findings to the public. So that, the society can benefit from more knowledge and deeper understanding of the problems centred around the drug trade, as this is not only a police matter, but should be everyone's concern. I thank you!
