MINISTER of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, on Wednesday last challenged the Organisation of American States (OAS) to recognise the need to assist countries such as Guyana in terms of tackling the drug trade.

Minister Rodrigues-Birkett was at the time addressing the 43rd Regular General Assembly of the OAS, held in Guatemala, under the theme ‘For a Comprehensive Policy Against the World Drug Problem in the Americas.
She called on her counterparts to recognise the fact that countries such as Guyana, “who neither produce nor consume drugs, are entitled to the fullest possible cooperation from producers and consumers in order to combat this dreaded scourge.”
The Foreign Affairs Minister told the gathering, inclusive of US Secretary of State John Kerry, that, “as we proceed to discuss and share ideas about how to deal effectively with the challenges, risks and vulnerabilities of the drug problem in the Americas, we are obliged to underscore the need for a balanced and a multi-dimensional approach.”
She said that if the Report on the Drug Problem in the hemisphere means anything at all, then the time to step up these initiatives is past due.
In pleading Guyana’s case, Minister Rodrigues-Birkett reminded the OAS confab that, “a country such as Guyana, sparsely populated, with intricate river networks, porous land borders, outlying ports of entry and challenges to its security sector capacity, will be a magnet for traffickers.”
She said that while recognition must be given to the measures adopted so far, it must be conceded that the efforts which have been made at the national, regional and hemispheric levels have been ineffective, and that it is necessary to formulate new approaches to address the problem of drugs.
“To delay is to condemn our societies to continued negative impact on their economic and social development.”
Minister Rodrigues-Birkett told her counterparts that “it boggles the mind that a kilogram of cocaine paste which can be purchased at the source of production for US$650 can be converted to two kilos with a value of US$330,000 at the point of retail sale.”
Of the revenues and profits from the drug trade, 1 per cent goes to farmers and producers in source countries, while 65 per cent goes to retailers.
The minister, in a stern reminder, said that while drugs flow in one direction, guns and money flow in the other.
She posited, “Cracking down with new technology and more advanced equipment only pushes the traffickers ahead one step further.”
Rodrigues-Birkett, addressing the plenary, said that as with any other commodity, so long as there is a demand, persons will venture to take the risks involved in producing it, and they will find ways to get it to the consumer.
“Therefore, drug policies which are centred on eradication and interdiction are doomed to fail.”
The minister said that outside of the economic implications, “the drug trade has enormous consequences for public safety, public health, good governance and social and economic development, as well as human rights.”
She said that in addition to increased social problems from the drug trade, something not often discussed is the degradation of the environment.
“Imagine that the production of one kilogram of methamphetamine produces five to six kilos of toxic waste.”
The minister also spoke to the fact that in many places, and in varying degrees, criminal factions have forged ties with local political and economic sectors leading to the penetration of national institutions, influence peddling and the manipulation of agencies, with concomitant effects on democratic governance.
“The expansion of impunity places added strain on already overburdened law enforcement and judicial sectors…Let us also keep in mind the strengthening of transnational criminal networks, giving rise to an expansion of their activities into other types of crime, including the trafficking of persons, arms and even human organs.”
The minister warned that it is time to recognise and to admit frankly that the challenges involved in combating the hydra-headed effects of the drug trade are goals whose attainment are receding over an ever distant horizon; and that in order to rekindle optimism, our policies and strategies must change.
Among these strategies, the treatment of offenders and the reduction of demand must be critically examined, said Rodrigues-Birkett.