rp21 situational analysis - Pacific Health Voices

Situational analysis of drug and alcohol issues and responses in the Pacific
12
• 98 kilograms of cocaine in Tonga, 2001
• 74 kilograms of methamphetamine in
Singapore on a ship travelling to Fiji and
Australia, 2002
• International Narcotics Control Board
prevented the importation of 12 tonnes
of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine into
Papua New Guinea, 2002, and
• 120 kilograms of cocaine found buried on
a beach in Vanuatu in 2004. 54
In Fiji in 2004 there was also a significant
seizure at what is known as a crystal methamphetamine
‘super’ laboratory yielding 5
kilograms of finished crystal methamphetamine,
700 litres of liquid methamphetamine
and enough precursor chemicals to produce
100 kilograms more. 55 However, with the
exception of the Fiji ‘super’ lab, illicit drug
seizures in the PICTs are comparatively small.
Where seizures in major producing countries
are routinely measured in metric tonnes, in
the Pacific seizures of cannabis are measured
in number of plants. 56
In a 2005 report, cannabis was reported
as the drug of choice among the six PICTs
considered, largely because it is cheap and
easily available. 57 A review of recent related
media reports suggests this trend continues
to exist alongside an emerging, but not yet
numerically significant, trend toward the use
of amphetamine-type substances. There is
insufficient information to unequivocally
state that cannabis use is increasing across
the region and the emergence of targeted law
enforcement campaigns leading to increased
arrests and reporting are likely to be factors
in this apparent trend. Important issues for
cannabis use are that it is locally grown and
renowned for its potency. 58 Of particular
concern to key informants is the interaction
between mental health issues and cannabis
use and the high levels of use among the
youth population. 59 In 2004 the DEA reported
a low usage of marijuana of 2 per cent of
the population in the Marshall Islands, and a
high usage of 34 per cent of the population
in Palau. 60 Notably, the 2003 UNODC Pacific
Profile reported there were in the vicinity of
one million cannabis users in Papua New
Guinea and up to 350 000 daily users, but
the data are now more than a decade old
and no new estimates have been identified. 61
A review of court reports (where available)
for the countries in this analysis supports the
view that offences for possession or trafficking
of cannabis are the illicit drug cases most
54 Ibid.
55 US Drug Enforcement Administration (2004), Drug Intelligence Brief: The Pacific Islands Region
(DEA– 04012). Available at:
(accessed October 2008).
56 Ibid; UNODC (2009), Global SMART Update 2009, vol.1, March; UNODC (2003), Pacific Profile,
August: outlines seizure details for 1995–2003 including drugs transiting the Solomon Islands,
Marshall Islands and Palau.
57 Devaney et al. above, fn.40.
58 Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Vanuatu.
59 Above, fn.40.
60 DEA above, fn.55, quoting a US National Institute on Drug Abuse report.
61 UNODC (2003), Pacific Profile, August.