Jamaica counters US report on anti-drug efforts

Cocaine seizures remained constant with some 264.16 kilograms of the drug seized in 2009.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, March 8, 2010 – Jamaica’s Minister of National Security, Senator Dwight Nelson, has blasted the findings contained in the recent International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) as not accurately representing the efforts being made by the security forces and the authorities to crack down on international drug trafficking and organized crime.

The report compiled by the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs of the United States' Department of State noted, among other things, that the Government's anti-corruption and anti-crime legislative agenda which was announced in 2007 has been stalled in Parliament.

Responding to the contents of the report, the National Security Minister admitted that six anti-crime Bills should have been passed by now. However, he explained that they are now being redrafted since, in their original form, they required the support of the Opposition which was not forthcoming.

"Corruption ranks first as a concern for Jamaicans"
--Senator Dwight Nelson

Despite the set-back with those pieces of legislation, Senator Nelson noted that the government was able to pass the Criminal Justice (Plea Bargaining) Regulations and Legal Aid Regulations.

Responding to the INCSR's suggestion that drug-related arrests were relatively stagnant and that the amount of drug seizures had decreased, Senator Nelson countered that, as of December 2009, 8,465 arrests were made for drug-related offences, and not 6,346 as stated in the report. He said the 2009 figure represents an increase of 1,408 arrests, or approximately 20 percent over the previous year, and is also the highest in four years.

In addition, he said that while cannabis seizures fell by 37 percent in 2009, cocaine seizures remained constant with some 264.16 kilograms of the drug seized in 2009.

"The country's consistent performance in drug seizures underscores the maintenance of our anti-narcotics efforts. The reduction in ganja seizures, for example, may be attributed to success in previous years at combating production," Senator Nelson said. “The extradition of key players in the trade has also impacted the resilience of the drug organisations.”

The National Security Minister said that aggressive demand reduction efforts, led by agencies such as the National Council on Drug Abuse, have also impacted consumption and therefore reduced local production and trafficking.

Nelson noted that resource constraints continue to challenge law enforcement efforts, but the security forces were committed to the task at hand. 

He pointed to the recent arrests of some of the country's top gang members, the proposal for development of anti-gang legislation and the Ministry of National Security's Gang Risk Assessment Survey, conducted in July 2009, as signals of the government's efforts to wipe out organised crime.

Addressing the issue of corruption, he said that a regional survey did not support the assertion made in the INCSR that "corruption ranks first as a concern for Jamaicans".

"In addition, National Crime Victimisation Surveys, conducted in 2006 and 2009, indicated that approximately 95 percent of Jamaicans have never experienced any form of corruption during their lifetime," Senator Nelson pointed out.