In response to your email.. which is posted below.. as i feel that if you want to continue this conversation i would prefer it to be public.
Umar Naseer : “Thanks for your comment on my blog. I believe in a wider approach to rehabilitation and prevention. I want users to be taken to rehabilitation centres with or without consent and they be given first class rehabilitation. Please go through page 5,6 & 7 of my manifesto and give me your comment, if any.”
Infact, i have gone through it before i made my first comment. As i said before the only thing i support is capital punishment to drug traffickers. As i said before, I wouldn’t want to see an innocent person being murdered either.
I have much to say regarding your manifesto and specially on your approach in dealing with the drug crisis . As you are saying that you are going to tax us, more than anything else, i have more questions for you which i need answers. There are many such questions but for the time being i will only restrict myself to the very obvious ones.
1. from where are you going to establish an independent laboratory to test people on drugs? Are you talking about a foreign laboratory or establishing a local one? From where are you going to get trained professionals who are capable of conducting such tests? Are you going to bring in foreign personnel or train locals? What mechanisms are you going to use to seek that the ones who are conducting these tests maintain their professionalism as corruption can seek in to these very rapidly like fire as in other much more developed countries?
2. The suicide rate in Maldives cannot be entirely based on drugs. The mental stress and deterioration of people is evident even if we look in to peoples’ faces. More emphasis need to be given in tackling the real issues behind suicide rates of which one major element lacking in the system is a well functioning mental health system. How many mental health professionals does the country have? What will you do to establish such a system where confidentiality of patients (including that of drug addicts seeking help) is maintained to the strictest of level possible? What is the professional help that will be available?
3. The most shocking of your “policies” regarding the treatment of addicts is that of which when you say you will force addicts “with or with out their consent” in to rehabilitation. This clearly suggests that you don’t have a clue of what an addict goes through. If you think that this strategy is going to work, you are not only dreaming but you are one of the biggest fools. Please refer to my posts on my blog regarding drug rehabilitation and treatment. Countries around the world has tested this hard core approach of yours and has failed miserably in the past. “With or with out consent” approach is a violation of basic human right. That right can only become irrelevant when others are in danger or the drug addicts addict themselves are endangering their lives. There are other many points and issues which has to be considered for such an approach. In most developed countries where each and every human being is treated as humanely as possible (no matter in which condition they are in), something called a metal health system is established. Under such a system drug addicts are treated. Not under a “counselling system” or jail sytem as such as which exists in Maldives. There are systems in place where a patient can be considered as an involuntary patient and such. Involuntary treatment orders are given out to enforce such a strategy and each of these are clearly defined so that patients rights are not infringed. Apart from all these , there also should be guidelines in how forensic patients are treated. How do you bring about these changes? I want to know exactly how? In detail?
4. Institutionalising those who are “hard core”addicts as you say is not a solution. No where in the world has this approach worked. Infact, nowadays institutionalising is considered as a violation of basic human rights. Are you suggesting that with or with without consent a person should be degraded to a level in such that they be treated like a bunch of animals to be sent to a separate island away from the rest of us? I cant agree with that. Nor will any sane human being. I have a feeling that you are saying this in search of votes. These days the most effective treatment is given infact in the community as it is the community that these drug addicts will return to in the end.
There are many more loopholes and weak points in your policies which i demand answers. For the time being i think i have said more than enough for you to digest.
Cosmetic solutions is not what is needed for the drug crisis. Don’t try to hoodwink the masses. If you are not , then you obviously don’t know what you are taking about.