‘The problem lies in the family’: Fiji’s drug crisis

• Fiji is dealing with a drug crisis and there are fears it will get worse.
• Locals in the capital say the surge in drug use, especially among young people, is due to a loss of “family values”.
• The drug problem has also led to an increase in new cases of AIDS.

People in Fiji’s capital Suva blame the state for the loss of family values Meth Crisis.

Prime Minister Sitiweni Rabuka pleads with people not to consider trying drugs Last month, a video of a naked young woman begging to be beaten was reported Circle social media.

There are also reports of users taking the highly addictive drug, known locally as “ice,” through “blasting” or “bluetooth.”

Bluetooth drugging, in which someone attempts to draw blood from a host injected with methamphetamine and inject it into a second person to get high, is a dangerous practice with serious health consequences.

Navitalai Tamanitoakula arrived in Suva from Nausori on Saturday morning and confirmed to New Zealand Pacific Radio an open secret: the drug problem is getting worse.

“I can tell it by watching the people in town, especially the young people,” he said. “You can tell when you look at their faces, they’re hyper,” he said.

“You always see them hiding in the corner with a bottle of glue in their hands, breathing heavily. They want money.”

He said that previously the “young people” were in the villages, but now they were hanging around in the city.

Tamanito Akula attributed the rise in the problem to a loss of “family values.”

“The problem lies at home, the children should go home and the parents should take care of the children and discipline them.

“Now (the children) talk back to their parents and sometimes even call them names.”

‘It’s definitely going to get worse’

Like Tamanitoakula, Pauline Doris believes parents should play a larger role.

“It’s also the parents’ responsibility to look after their children and make sure they don’t get involved in these things,” she said.

“The situation is definitely getting worse, but the government is not doing anything to address the problem.”

Doris had heard that drugs mainly affected middle school students, but she didn’t know anyone who was using them.

“I heard some news and rumors, especially from some of my friends, that some of their family members were arrested and scolded to the police station.”

In January this year, the Fijian police A major drug bustnearly five tonnes of methamphetamine with a street value of more than 2 billion FJD was seized. Fourteen people were charged in connection with the seizure.

Authorities acknowledge international drug gang Using Fiji as a transit point The drugs were destined for the lucrative Australian and New Zealand markets.

Since then, there have been reports that Children as young as 10 are also addictedAs police continue to conduct drug busts and arrests, Including high school students.

This week, the county’s Substance Abuse Council Disclosure The number of new HIV cases in the first half of 2020 increased to more than 500, exceeding the total number of cases in 2023 (415).

“The highest rates of HIV infection appear to be among those who inject drugs,” Josua Naisele, the commission’s acting chairman, told the public broadcaster.

Nasser also warned that the recent discovery of “meth lollies” in New Zealand should be a wake-up call and he “hopes and prays” that meth will not make its way to Fiji.

This time last year, the government Launched a national program To cope with the surge in the epidemic.

Internal Affairs Minister Pio Tikoduadua told RNZ Pacific earlier this month: “poor” is the main driver of the drug problem.

He said the government was making “real efforts” to eradicate poverty in order to “address the drug crisis holistically”.

There are reports that Bad elements have also infiltrated the police force.

A senior police officer in Lautoka Under investigation Last month, he was suspected of carrying illegal drugs.

Tikodu Adua, who is overseeing a major “police reorganization,” told fiji sun Newspaper: “The police have a problem, I admit it.”

“There are people who are doing things we’re not proud of and we need to get rid of those people,” he reportedly said.

Sheetal Devi often gets updates on police raids and drug finds through social media.

“I rarely heard it before, but now I hear it almost every day,” she said.

Devi said she did not know any drug users and had not seen anyone taking drugs, but she had seen hookah pipes and needles left on the street.

“It’s getting worse because there’s a lot of drugs out there now and it’s not just affecting adults but school children as well, so it’s really getting worse,” she said.

“If students are put in this situation, it will damage their mental health and they will achieve nothing and have no future.

“They will not know what responsibility is and will just get addicted to drugs.”

Fiji Dependence on tourism As its main economic driver, it received more than 920,000 tourists last year.

Holidaymakers from Australia and New Zealand are its main source markets, accounting for more than 70% of total visitor arrivals. It is considered the centre of economic activity in the Pacific Islands region.

But another Suva local, Mesake Tapua, told RNZ Pacific the meth crisis had given Fiji a bad image.

“Fiji should take the lead in preventing this problem from spreading to small island nations.”

He said he knew some people who were taking drugs.

“You can see it’s bringing all sorts of ailments to (users), it’s a new way of life for them.

“We are concerned about these young people because this is destroying their minds when they should be going to college or school.”

Bluetooth has been beautified

Founder of Drug Free World Fiji Kalesi Volatabu said the drug problem has spread to urban and rural settings in all areas of the island.

Mr Waratap said one in two or three people in Fiji knew someone who was taking methamphetamine.

“If it’s not in their own family, they know someone who has actually been through this crisis,” she said, adding, “Anything from Bluetooth or shared needles or cocaine, heroin, inhalants to sniffing glue.”

Ms Woratabu said research conducted by her organisation in 2019 found that drugs from Fiji were not only entering larger markets such as Australia and New Zealand, but were also being sold into the Fijian market.

“There was a need in our country, and that was five years ago.”

Woratabu said Bluetooth was not working.

“People have glamorized it and sensationalized it.”

She said people think doing this kind of thing will make them “very excited” or “have a different kind of high”, but this is not the case and it puts their lives at risk.

“They put themselves in danger every time. They don’t understand what they are doing.”