Impact on children and families is becoming increasingly evident

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Police continue to investigate drug cartels on the island and revealed this week 17 people arrested Including Comanchero gang members.

Twice a year, groups of young people from across the country come here for motivational talks and harm reduction education. As the Speaker of Parliament, Lord Fatafihi Fakafanua, puts it, they are the forgotten, the troubled, the lost.

“The parents have abandoned them, the community has abandoned them, and if they break the law, there is no one to protect them.

“Gang members and teenagers are in prison, they’re all in the same place — there’s no juvenile hall, and there’s less hope for them because once they become repeat offenders, it’s very difficult to change them.”

The youngest child who participated in the negotiations was only 8 years old, selling drugs in school and forcing adults to sell drugs, earning less than $1 a day.

Fakafanua said he was paid with “money and sex”.

Catherine Mafi works for Ma’a Fafine Moe Famili, an organization in Tonga that helps children and families. She said the government was not getting much help on the issue.

“They keep saying they have a task force, they have a committee, all kinds of organizations, but I’ve never seen it at the grassroots level.”

Mafi added that the drug problem in Tonga was “a crisis” that affected most families.

“It’s really sad that the family is broken up…”

Maffei is not the only one frustrated by the government’s lack of action.

Her colleague Betty Black said: “Do you know where drug policy is in this country? We do so much for the community and I have never seen or heard of this policy.”

Steps have been taken at the legislative level to increase drug-related penalties.

In May this year, parliament held a public debate on whether to impose the death penalty for drug crimes, but a majority opposed the idea.

A new bill is also being drafted that would allow the seizure of assets of drug money beneficiaries.

These include groups like the Comancheros who have tried to set up shop here, with two of their ringleaders arrested this month.

“We can make Tonga the most difficult place for transnational criminals and criminal networks to operate, so it is very difficult for them to skip Tonga and go somewhere else,” Fakafanua said.

Source: 1News