Siassi mothers seek police aid

MOTHERS in Siassi are calling on Morobe police to conduct a raid the island and arrest marijuana addicts and peddlers.
Three women in Lae, who refused to be named for fear of being attacked when they return home, claimed the abuse of the drugs was so widespread that in every village, at least 60% of all teenage boys were addicts.
They said boys, as young as 10, and men, as old as 60, were smoking marijuana openly.
“All kinds of awareness campaigns by health and church workers about the negative side-effects of smoking marijuana are not working,” they said.
“They are openly defying peace officers, magistrates, and councillors.
“Only police action will do.
“The use of drugs is leading to a serious breakdown in law and order.
“Boys and men are now openly fighting with bush knives – something they did with their bare fists
in the past,” the women said.
They said rape of young girls and grandmothers, due to substance abuse, was increasing.
At least two other calls had been made in the past three years for law enforcement officers and agents to patrol the villages from Kowai to Kaimanga and the islands of Tuam, Malai, Mandok, Aromot and Aronai.
The previous calls included that of a former kiap who said the magnitude of drug abuse was sickening.
Marijuana was transported in by ship from Lae and sold at K2 a cigarette.
They extended their call to the Lae metropolitan police commander to check the Lutheran Shipping wharf for vessels travelling to Siassi claiming that drugs were being taken into the villages at Christmas was highest during the year.