Simbu to mark war against illegal drugs and homebrew

KUNDIAWA town will play host to celebrations this Friday to mark the first anniversary of Simbu’s war against  illegal homebrew and marijuana.
The front man in the fight against  illegal homebrew, marijuana and  illegal firearm is Simbu provincial police commander Supt Joseph Tondop, who  said the fight was far from over.
He said the celebrations this week would be  to further reinforce and strengthen the fight against these evil practices that destroy human lives.
Supt Tondop said illegal homebrew production and consumptions in the province were rampant  when he arrived in Simbu in 2007.
Since then, he had initiated a major awareness to eradicate the bad habit.
The initiative received overwhelming backing from politicians, business houses, provincial and district administrations.
Combine police and Simbu provincial administration awareness into all the six districts of Simbu helped to end marijuana cultivation, consumption and trading as well as homebrew.
The fight was also extended to end possession of illegal firearms that triggers tribal fights.
It was reported last year that more than 50 deaths at the Kundiawa General Hospital were directly related to excessive homebrew and drug consumption.
According to health officers, heavy consumption of homebrew damages the liver which filters all food and fluid intakes, as it is a soft organ with very important function for the body.
Meanwhile, Simbu provincial drug specialist Philip Kai said more than 90,000 people in Simbu Province were addicted to marijuana, according to official statistics.
“In PNG, 29.5% of the six million people were addicted  to marijuana, according to reliable statistics, which means 90,000 from Simbu’s 300,000 people were addicted to drugs,” he said.
Mr Kai said marijuana and homebrew had huge potential to destroy human brain especially the capabilities to think and distinguish from bad and good.
The fight, spearheaded by Supt Tondop has been,  hailed as a success for the province which was once heading towards collapse of good moral ethics and values, due to escalating cultivation and consumptions of marijuana and homebrew production and consumptions.