Chasing the dragon from the urban back alleys to the international seas
On the Canadian naval news chatter, the HMCS* Toronto, a naval patrol ship somewhere in the Indian Ocean, made their second major drug bust this year on open water. The illicit drug industry is just as fierce if not wiser than a generation ago on a global level. With satellite surveillance and high-tech radar, international players in the trafficking of heroin and other poison are having a rough time keeping up with the counter-attacks.
Markets for Illicit Drugs
When you consider that 538 kilograms of heroin were seized by a Canadian naval ship on international water, one can’t help but wonder the size of the market for such illicit drugs. Heroin has been around for a long time but only became largely abused and problematic in the middle part of the 20th century. When you trace the use of heroin back to the source, you find out that some small village in a poppy harvesting country has the villagers, women, men, and kids working in the field for a few dollars a day.
To the villagers, it is a job and a means to make income to feed and care for their families. On the other side of the world, four city kids purchase a couple of points of heroin each and go partying. In most cases, they all make it home safe. Only to start the next day again, and then they need their next hit, or the withdrawal experience will be unbearable.
Never Ending Addiction
Helping someone withdraw from heroin addiction is not a walk in the park. The side effects are gruesome, to say the least. Our health officials and their counterparts, the pharmaceutical companies, came up with “harm reduction” genius. By fabricating a drug called “methadone,” a person can now stop heroin by taking methadone and not feel the withdrawal effects. But now, the person is hooked on methadone, and the cycle continues. By survey, methadone withdrawal symptoms are worse than those of heroin.
The only proven way to overcome any addiction to drugs or alcohol is with the help of drug addiction counsellors. These are professionals in the field of addiction, just as there are professionals in other areas. You can get assistance from a drug rehab facility to help someone addicted to drugs.
War on Drug Trafficking
The war on drug trafficking will continue as long as generations seek to avoid life and its challenges and seclude themselves in a world of deceit, pain, horror and eventual death. Society needs more drug awareness campaigns. That is drug education with proven results. Also, good drug rehab facilities and an active community disagreeing with drug use are required. Get involved, be part of the solution, say no to drugs and yes to life in our cities or on the open ocean. Well done to the men and women serving on the HMSC Toronto!
*HMCS: Her Majesty Canadian Ship
Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2013/05/08/ns-hmcs-toronto-drug-bust.html