rp21 situational analysis - Pacific Health Voices

5.3 Illicit drug trends
Reports on illicit drugs in Kiribati relate most
often to contracted seamen. 344 As recently as
July 2008, a number of i-Kiribati and Tuvaluan
seafarers were arrested in possession of heroin,
estimated to be worth over US$680 000 by
the Drug Enforcement Administration. 345 However,
a recent statement by the High Commissioner
of Kiribati to Fiji noted that the
total worldwide number of i-Kiribati seafarers
caught smuggling drugs was 20. 346 As early
as 2003, the International Narcotics Control
Board called for Kiribati and other PICTs to
become signatories to the United Nations
conventions on drugs. 347
Heroin
Kiribati is one of the few countries in the
region where reference is made to heroin
injecting. This has usually been in the context
of seafarers and arrests associated with
heroin possession and trafficking. At the time
of writing, the report of the Commission
on AIDS in the Pacific was due for release.
This report reaffirms the high risk for sexual
transmission of HIV among the seafaring
workforce, but there is still a need to collect
evidence of injecting. 348
Cannabis
Similar to other PICTs there are reports of
youth cannabis use in Kiribati. In addition, a
key informant advised that people reported
planting cannabis to earn cash. If this is the
case, then it would suggest a significant
shift from a 2001 research report for Tawara
which noted that it is rarely smoked. 349
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344 Kiribati to address seafarers caught smuggling drugs. Secretariat of the Pacific Community,
Committee of Representatives of Governments and Administrations (CRGA), 13 October 2008.
Available at:
(accessed February 2009).
345 Batiri Bataua (2008), Kiribati seamen arrested for heroin possession. Pacific Islands
Broadcasting Association, 14 August 2008. Available at: (accessed February 2009).
346 Kiribati High Commissioner to Fiji, Reteta Nikuata Rimon in an address to 38th meeting of
SPC’s CRGA above, fn.344.
347 Government of Kiribati (with the assistance of UNICEF) (2005), Kiribati: A Situation Analysis of
Children, Women and Youth. Suva: UNICEF Pacific Office. Available at: .
348 Commission on AIDS in the Pacific (2009), Turning the Tide: an OPEN strategy for a response to
AIDS in the Pacific. Suva: UNAIDS Pacific Region.
349 International drug control group says Pacific countries must join international treaties, Radio
New Zealand International, 27 February 2003. Available at: (accessed February 2009).
Kiribati