Hand in hand without a needle: perspectives on the drugs session.

• Author: Lewis, Patrick A.

In the light of the General Assembly's Special Session, the Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda to the United Nations, Patrick A. Lewis, and Palau's Ambassador to the United States, Hersey Kyota, speak on the crisis, particularly in the context of their countries and regions, and its possible solutions.

The countries of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) welcomed the focus of the Special Session. What the Assembly attempted to do - wage a war on drugs - is what CARICOM, with its limited financial resources, has been doing for several years, with attempts to secure assistance from the broader international community. The entire Caribbean, indeed small States worldwide, regularly face the challenges associated with geographic location, territorial security and poverty. Consequently, CARICOM countries thought it important to send a signal that was both potent and unambiguous to anyone involved in the illicit trade, that their countries would collectively fight them forcefully and decisively. The message was conveyed in full recognition that the forces of globalization and trade liberalization had, unintentionally, aided the drug trafficker.

The CARICOM envoys made no apology for standing before the Assembly to speak once again about the vulnerabilities of small States. Indeed, they saw it as a national duty. The Special Session gave them an opportunity to address, in a world forum, an issue that is wreaking tremendous damage on the socioeconomic infrastructure of the region. The dynamics of geography and supply and demand seem to have conspired to place the Caribbean on the frontline of the drug trade as transhipment States. The Caribbean is a perfect highway between the factories of South America and the markets of North America and Europe. Sandro Calvani, Director of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme's regional office in the Caribbean, has stated that the region is a highway with little risk of interruption of traffic, as it comprises five different judicial systems and 2,000 islands. Furthermore, he noted that no engineer or businessman could have devised a better system of manufacturing and distribution.

Among the more disturbing trends in the drug trade is the shift from paying cash to drug runners to paying them in kind. This means payment in drugs, causing them to be peddled ally in return for cash. In other words, the drug business in the Caribbean has switched from a "demand-driven" to an...