Police Issues: Drug Control in Central Asia
Drug Control in Central Asia
Introduction
Law enforcement around the world is faced with several issues concerning public security and crime prevention. Among the most prominent and widely regarded police issue is the prevalence of illegal drug trade. This is the focus of the video entitled “Drug Control in Central Asia” discussing the issue of illegal drug trade in five central Asian countries namely Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. These countries are said to have insufficient preventive mechanism to fight a war against drugs that not even wealthy Western countries could not contain. It is apparent that the major dilemma of the five countries are the existing structure of policies and control measures that will enable them to even get to the bottom of the issue.
Issue in Focus
Primarily, the content of the video addresses policy issues pertaining to the illegal drug trade in Central Asia. The problem exist because the Old Silk Road connecting the five central Asian countries shares border with Afghanistan, which is known to be a major source of supply of heroin and opiates. However, the lack of strong policy contributes to persistence of problem and the government of the five aforementioned countries does not have the machinery to engage a statewide battle against illicit drugs. According to Peyrouse (2012), the United Nations Organization for Control (UNODC) is insinuating a strategy to focus its effort in strengthen the role of international organizations in fighting for drug trade by constantly financing BOMCA (Border Management in Central Asia). The program is part of the Central Asia Counter Narcotics Initiative (CACI) campaign along with Russia to eventually cut down the trade route of illegal drugs through border backdoors by implementing stronger border policies (Peyrouse, 2012). However, given the number of programs and initiatives provided by the international cooperation, the fight against illegal drugs in Central Asia is still far from groundbreaking because the local authorities themselves simply do not have regional security tools and innovative mechanisms (Peyrouse, 2012).
Causal Factor
Several causal factors are linked to the prevalence of the problem in the region. First, countries in Central Asia are linked by vast number of backdoor routes coming and in out of the primary source of elicit drugs, which is Afghanistan. The close proximity from the source results to wide availability of supply and low price. The cost of transit from the source going to the consumer market is relatively low due to the fact that the drug supply’s point of entry are not strongly barricaded by border policies and security tools. Because of the low price of drugs, accessibility and availability becomes apparent contributing to the increase in the number of users in the region leading to the growth of consumer market (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2008). In the video, once of the causal factors mentioned was that Afghanistan shares long border with the five countries most affected by the drug trafficking. The 1,200 miles mile border offers several drug routes, which the five country’s weak border policies and detection strategy could not closely monitor. However, local agencies such as the Tajikistan Drug Control Agency led by General Rustam Nazarov receive support from the UNODC. One of their primary objectives is to provide compensation to their law enforcement officers three times higher than those of the local officers to discourage them from taking bribes from drug traffickers. This is because economic situation is among the causation pointed out to the growth of illicit drug business in the region. Deep-seated corruption and law enforcers choosing to turn a blind eye on the problem is influenced by poor economic condition of the five countries.
Conclusion
The short video have presented a concise depiction of reality that implemented policies to fight illegal drugs are not sufficient unless the entire state get their acts together towards a common initiative. Economic condition, corruption and geological factors feed the illegal industry to continuously grow. The lack of border security policies and tools that will equip law enforcers to fight back provides an open door for organized crime organizations to move freely. Even the wealthy Western countries with sophisticated set of laws and machinery to impose a strong security strategy is still facing the dilemma of countering illegal drug trade, let alone countries that are suffering from poor economic condition.
References
Paris Pact Initiative. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Regional Office for Central Asia (2008). Illicit drug trends in Central Asia. Retrieved from Office on Drugs and Crime, United Nations website: http://www.unodc.org/documents/regional/central-asia/Illicit%20Drug%20Trends_Central%20Asia-final.pdf
Peyrouse , S. (2012). Drug Trafficking in Central Asia: A poorly considered fight?. PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo, (218). Retrieved from http://www.gwu.edu/~ieresgwu/assets/docs/ponars/pepm_218_Peyrouse_Sept2012.pdf
