THE EDITOR, Sir:I WRITE in reference to Dawn Ritch's article entitled 'Drugs and Money Laundering' Sunday Gleaner July 25, 2004.
While the nexus between drugs and the formal and informal economy has been established and the impact of drug income on communities is without doubt, a settling influence to their informal economies, it would be foolhardy to believe that an economy can be built and sustained by drug income.
It seems to me, that while earnings from remittances will contribute to economic activity in communities through small enterprises and retail activities, the real sense of production will be lost. Also, the attendant social problems which emanate as a direct result of drugs are many.
The informal economy is not the answer to Jamaica's problem through drug earnings. Government should move with alacrity to prevent the scourge of drug money from gaining any further share of the Jamaican economy.
I am, etc.,
N.W. CHAMBERS
Kingston 8
