Lack of strategy seen as fueling rise in drug abuse

By GLENDA AWIKIAK
Dangerous drugs are on the rise in the country because there is no drug control strategy, says National Narcotics Bureau team leader Mathew Nelson.
He said there was no strategy to regulate the influx of drugs such as morphine, amphetamines and cocaine.
Nelson said the amount of drugs coming into the country through private pharmaceutical companies and into hospitals and on the shelves for sale were not known to the bureau.
“For 15 years, the country has been operating without a proper drug control strategy,” he said.
“This is posing a threat and risk to human life.
“Private hospitals and pharmacies need to be controlled in the way they are importing and supplying pharmaceutical drugs to patients and clients.
“The Health Department, Customs, National Narcotics Bureau and other stakeholders need to work together to censor this flow of drugs.”
Nelson said Papua New Guinea had not yet ratified the 1988 Convention against Illicit Trafficking in Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, after the establishment of the National Narcotics Control Board Act 1992.
“The National Narcotics Bureau is primarily responsible for conducting awareness, education and inspection programmes aimed at curbing down and eliminating the increasing negative impacts of drug abuse such as crimes and violence in the communities,” he said.