rp21 situational analysis - Pacific Health Voices

Religion
With high rates of active participation in religious
life, 49 an analysis of the involvement of
churches in the prevention of substance use
is of interest for all Pacific countries. This is
particularly important where religious leaders
have traditionally taken on the role of
‘regulating’ social behaviours among their
constituents. 50 Research among Pacific Islanders
living abroad suggests that actively
practising a religion can act as a protective
factor against problematic substance use.
In New Zealand it has been shown that there
is a lower prevalence of alcohol consumption
among Pacific Islanders than among the
general population and this has been linked
to religious practice. This view is supported
by the fact that a number of churches — for
example, the Methodist Church — have successfully
advocated kava use over alcohol,
as it is associated with less harm. Despite
the positive role that religious groups have
played in limiting substance use harms, the
adoption of traditional abstinence programming
to the exclusion of all other services is
as unlikely to succeed in this context as in
other settings across the world.
1.4 Illicit drug trends
The UNODC World Drug Report 2007 51
includes data for Oceania, predominantly
gathered from Australia and New Zealand,
and is consequently of only marginal interest
for this assessment. In the same report,
the PICTs are not identified as ‘significant’
producing countries, with the possible exception
of cannabis cultivation. Asia and South
America are clearly identified points of origin
for other illicit drugs in the region.
Transhipment of drugs in the region is a
concern raised by the OCO and other law
enforcement agencies across the region.
However, there seems to be inter-regional
movement of drugs, notably the shifting
of cannabis between Samoa and American
Samoa, and movement between Fiji and other
nations. 52 The risk factors for the region are
included in detail in an Australian Institute of
Criminology report on precursors in Oceania. 53
Significant seizures in the region have
included:
• 375 kilograms of heroin in Fiji, 2000
• 160 kilograms of heroin shipped from
Myanmar to Vanuatu, 2001
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49 Up to 90 per cent in some of the countries included in this analysis.
50 Personal communication, July 2008.
51 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2008), World Drug Report 2007. Vienna: UNODC;
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2003), Oceania Regional Overview: availability of
needle and syringe exchange programmes and opioid substitution therapy. Bangkok: UNODC
Regional Centre for East Asia and the Pacific.
52 Fiji is also identified as a source of cannabis for Tonga and Samoa: personal communication,
July 2008.
53 R. McCusker (2006), Transnational Crime in the Pacific Islands: real or apparent danger? Trends &
Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, no.308, March 2006. Canberra: Australian Institute of
Criminology. This publication includes Pacific countries not the focus of this report, i.e. the
French and American territories, and presents the view that the region is increasingly a trafficking
route for precursor chemicals.
Regional overview