by Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ and Director, CREDI
CCSJ’s Ask Why TV programme this Tuesday (June 26) will focus, from 8.00 – 9.00 p.m. on TCN, on the issue of drug abuse and illicit trafficking, as part of our observation of the UN International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Ms Hulsie Bhaggan, New Life Ministries, and Ms Esther Best, TT’s National Drugs Council, will be the panellists. I will be the moderator.
Last year, Ban Ki Moon said that “Unless we reduce demand for illicit drugs, we can never fully tackle cultivation, production or trafficking. Governments have a responsibility to counteract both drug trafficking and drug abuse, but communities can also make a major contribution. Families, schools, civil society and religious organisations can do their part to rid their communities of drugs. Businesses can help provide legitimate livelihoods. The media can raise awareness about the dangers of narcotics.”
Drug abuse – alcohol, tobacco, medicines, and other legal and illegal drugs – and drug trafficking are global phenomena that cut across age, class, ethnic and gender lines. They must be seen within the wider context of other social ills that face our communities.
TT needs to develop and implement a strategic plan/an integrated approach to drugs and crime that would address issues relating to drug prevention, enforcement, harm reduction and treatment – within a regional/global context. There are new trends in drug use, particularly among young people who abuse illicit, and misuse licit, psychoactive substances for recreational purposes and during their leisure time.
What does our Church teach about these issues? A manual published by the Pontifical Council for Healthcare Workers: “Church, Drugs, and Drug Addiction (Dec 2001)”, explains that drugs are not just a legal problem. Solving drug abuse also depends on factors such as offering young people a sense of purpose in their lives and decent surroundings in which they can mature. The manual points out that the state has a duty to protect citizens and promote the common good. The document suggests three courses of action: prevention, suppression of trafficking and rehabilitation/social reintegration.
The manual opens with the words of Pope John Paul II who points out that drugs are one of the main threats facing young people, including children. He refers to pushers as “merchants of death” and warns potential drug users against using substances that offer the illusion of liberty and false promises of happiness.
Sections 2288 to 2291 of our Catechism state:
“2288 Life and physical health are precious gifts entrusted to us by God. We must take reasonable care of them, taking into account the needs of others and the common good…
2290 The virtue of temperance disposes us to avoid every kind of excess: the abuse of food, alcohol, tobacco, or medicine. Those incur grave guilt who, by drunkenness or a love of speed, endanger their own and others’ safety on the road, at sea, or in the air.
2291 The use of drugs inflicts very grave damage on human health and life. Their use, except on strictly therapeutic grounds, is a grave offense. Clandestine production of and trafficking in drugs are scandalous practices. They constitute direct co-operation in evil, since they encourage people to practices gravely contrary to the moral law.”
Let us reach out to those affected by drug abuse; help to rehabilitate them and lend support to their families. You will have read recently of the opening of a 30-bed drug rehabilitation centre for women that was officially handed over by the Women in Action for the Needy and Destitute to New Life Ministries (NLM), a ministry of Living Water Community. The centre in Siparia, will be used for the drug rehabilitation and treatment of women. “It will offer vocational training, and accommodate any young children of the residents” and will help residents to be reintegrated into society. NLM also runs a drug rehabilitation centre near Mt St Benedict.
Our neighbour is anyone who has need of us. You can access CCSJ’s latest Newsletter: Parish Link, online. This issue is entitled: ‘Faith and Good Works’. In it we share examples of how Catholics across our Archdiocese are striving to do “Good Works” in their communities. Our aim is to inspire the faithful to act with compassion and reach out to those in need also. Our schools can do much to raise students’ and parents’ awareness of the dangers of drug abuse and to work to counteract negative media images and peer pressure related to drugs.
We have much work to do to build a healthy future for our citizens.
