To US: control drug consumption, please



The Ministry of Foreign Relations says that the increase in drug trafficking in the DR is the result of demand for drugs from the United States. Foreign Relations Minister Carlos Morales Troncoso was reacting to a statement by the US Embassy charge d'affaires Christopher Lambert who recently commented on the participation of drug trafficking in the Dominican economy.

Morales said that if there is an increase in drug trafficking here it is because of the large demand for drugs in the US, as reported in El Dia. Morales said that before criticizing other countries, US diplomats should look and see what is happening in their own nation, where there is a high level of drug consumption. "We have to put a stop to production of drugs, use of transshipment countries but also there is a need to put a stop to consumption," said Morales Troncoso.

He said the US allocates an insufficient amount of funds towards combating drug trafficking and expressed regret that the producer and transshipment countries now have to bear the larger part of the blame for criminal activities related to drug trafficking.

Morales said that drug trafficking was the main issue discussed during President Leonel Fernandez's meeting with President Barrack Obama at the White House.

He said during the meeting, Fernandez offered the DR as a venue for hosting a conference where heads of state could agree on regional measures. "I believe the heads of government need to see each other face to face. Above all to stop consumption there need to be clear measures. Then, we will see production and trafficking disappear," he said, as reported in Listin Diario.

Interior & Police Minister Franklin Almeyda Rancier said: "It is true that there is a serious and apparently insurmountable problem with drugs in the US and some say that if controls were imposed on drugs they would have very serious political problems that would even destabilize governance," as reported in El Dia. He estimated the value of drugs entering the US market at US$400 billion and said that it is their obligation to control this in the same way as with terrorism.

Almeyda said: "Drugs are a business that has an excellent market in the US and that country is responsible for controlling that market," he said.
Morales Troncoso said that the US has budgeted US$40 million to counteract drug trafficking, but he said that amount is insufficient and drug consumption needs to be controlled.

DR1 Daily News: http://www.dr1.com/
8/27/2010



Votes: 0
E-mail me when people leave their comments –

You need to be a member of TheBlackList Pub to add comments!

Join TheBlackList Pub

Comments

  • Drug trafficking perils

    Criminologist Jose Raul Cepeda Borrero of Puerto Rico's Inter-American University is warning that the biggest danger that the countries of the Caribbean, the DR included, face at this time is going from being a bridge and transfer point to being a consumption point. He said this results in serious social problems of drug addiction and a high incidence of crime related to drug trafficking, as reported in today's Diario Libre.
    Hogar Crea, the leading drug rehabilitation center, is reporting an increase in the number of requests for its services. In May, Hogar Crea's Leopoldo Diaz said that 4,000 users of marijuana, crack, cocaine and heroin required their help during 2009. He estimates that drug dependency has risen by about 10%.
    A report by the National Drug Control Department (DNCD) indicates that from August 2009 to date, they have seized 7,621 kilograms of narcotics, of which 5,964.5 kilograms were cocaine and 1,614.9 kilograms were marijuana.
    Cepeda said that the strategies of the anti-narcotics agencies such as the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) were not effective. He said they "are never going to work because they are focused on prohibitionist policies and the iron fist and arresting people and seizing drugs, but they don't tackle the social problems behind drug trafficking."
    He said that the Caribbean nations urgently needed to work out their own recipes for pursuing drug trafficking, because it is not the same to be a part of the drug trafficking route as it is to be a drug consumers market.
    He told Dominicans to look in the mirror of Puerto Rico, "where the fight against drugs has consumed millions of dollars and the results continue to be minimal in comparison to the seriousness of the problem".
    Drug consumption is currently one of the principal health problems in Puerto Rico, with increasingly alarming statistics. It is estimated that around 70,000 people are addicted to drugs spending US$3,000,000 a day on drug purchases. This costs the government more than US$600 million a year.
    from: http://dri.com
This reply was deleted.

https://theblacklist.net/