Drug trade continues to have negative effect on Dominica – US Department of State

Despite Dominica’s best efforts the international drug trade continues to have a negative impact on the island the US Department of State 2010 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report has revealed.

Of concern is the large scale cultivation of marijuana on the island for local consumption and for international trafficking. “It is estimated that approximately 210 acres are grown annually and the rugged terrain poses a major challenge to enforcement activities and efforts to assess crop sizes,” the report stated.

The report point out to the large amount of cocaine being transited in Dominica from countries such as Venezuela. “The Dominica Police Force (DPF) estimates that 100-200 kilograms of cocaine are transited to Dominica from Venezuela each week,” the report said. “According to the DPF, this represents an increase in cocaine transiting the island.”

The report said that although the authorities are committed to combating criminal elements within the island’s borders, limited resources “prevent officials from consistent interdiction of drugs destined to the US and European markets”.

But all is not bad because the report stated in 2009 Dominica added a new vessel to its fleet to counter maritime narcotics activities.

“Close relations continue to exist between local and regional law enforcement agencies to further assist in patrolling international waters. Dominican authorities are grateful for US assistance in training intelligence, but request more logistical support. In 2009, the USCG provided four small boat engineering and maintenance mobile training teams to Dominica,” the report said.

It also showcased Dominica’s cooperation in combating international drug trafficking by highlighting an incident in which the US government seized a Dominica flagged vessel under a bilateral agreement between the two countries. “The vessel was boarded under the bilateral agreement and was found to be smuggling over 350lbs of marijuana. Three smugglers were also removed from the seized vessel for prosecution,” the report stated.

Copyright 2012 Dominica News Online, DURAVISION INC. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.

Disclaimer: The comments posted do not necessarily reflect the views of DominicaNewsOnline.com and its parent company or any individual staff member. All comments are posted subject to approval by DominicaNewsOnline.com. We never censor based on political or ideological points of view, but we do try to maintain a sensible balance between free speech and responsible moderating.

We will delete comments that:

  • contain any material which violates or infringes the rights of any person, are defamatory or harassing or are purely ad hominem attacks
  • a reasonable person would consider abusive or profane
  • contain material which violates or encourages others to violate any applicable law
  • promote prejudice or prejudicial hatred of any kind
  • refer to people arrested or charged with a crime as though they had been found guilty
  • contain links to "chain letters", pornographic or obscene movies or graphic images
  • are off-topic and/or excessively long

See our full comment/user policy/agreement.

32 Comments

  1. weedman new jersey
    March 10, 2011

    now i know they have some local weed, i will visit! thanks for the info. legalize and you will make more money for all the people of the island.
    see you soon!

  2. Anonymous
    March 10, 2011

    the united states govt is so full of hypocrisy. they cant control drugs in their own country, their laws are foolish and they jail the drug user while the dealers roam. next they try to tell other nations what to do!!

    funny mon. funny.

  3. good police but still understand
    March 8, 2011

    :mrgreen: i know its not weed that kills and distroy dominica its bad marketing and poisen drugs that damage da so poor . .and if there is not one market to sell produce what would some young man do .plant weed and sell to make a leaving ,and why does the us help buy some good weed and help the hardsheep in da.i dont smoke but i dont have problem because weed is just like home grown vegitable and not one bad drugs. the us sell and its legal there and in mediseto county in califonia weed legalize so why cant a little place like dominica sell good pot to us for medicen ..and mr correct ./look at the facts and stop correcting basted ./ and you understand every thing we say/. so its you that play like a full, ass h12L and stop your dunkey / TALK

  4. LegalizeIT
    March 5, 2011

    boyyyyyyy FADA!!! DAT lookin like a bad bad grades .. i woulda roll it up now!!

    • aaahhhhwo
      March 5, 2011

      yeh da look liek some treez you go find ah new yawk yo… it lookn MAAAADDD

  5. Just Another Guy On The Street
    March 5, 2011

    Interesting stuff! Maybe I have not been following information released by our own Law Enforcement, but my question is why do we have to get such detailed in formation from the US and not right here in Dominica from our own!

  6. PRAY FOR DOMINICA
    March 4, 2011

    Dominica has a disease right now she needs some anti-biotics!!!!

  7. PRAY FOR DOMINICA
    March 4, 2011

    There’s no leadership or oppostion in Dominica how the state department expect anything to be done about drugs. and secondly if yall didn’t have such a high demand for the stuff in the U.S yall wouldn’t have a problem.

    Thats what happens when farmers have no crops to grow… Banana industry dead, hundreds of acres of land nothing to grow to make a living. I remembered when the industry received its death blow… No preference for Caribbean banana eh

  8. DRUG ADDICT
    March 4, 2011

    All you full of BS. All you well who the drug dealers in Dominica are and who the beneficiaries are. They are in high offices in the education system, banking, government services, tourism and industry. They building the big houses and driving the suvs… They blame the rough tops who ride on motor bikes. Do you really believe the system want to stop the drug trade…honestly do you…when people happy to blame someone else for their evil……GOD NOT SLEEPING……Just remember GOD NOT SLEEPING

    • on de road
      March 5, 2011

      drug addict u hit de nail on de head. they know who bringing de drugs but is we on de street that payin 4 it.
      do u think weed would be illegal if de laws could tax it in some way?
      am listening

  9. Homeboy
    March 4, 2011

    What an analogy…. You must be an economist… Great observation.

  10. Arbitrator
    March 4, 2011

    Let me open by saying that I understand the concern from the US in combating the drug trafficking in our island. Understandably, they do not want OUR drugs maneuvering in to their system. But marijuana after all, is legal in some US states and other countries around the world. Therefore, they should not have any say so in what we cultivate as a cash crop or otherwise.

    An increasing number of states in the US are decriminalizing marijuana for medical use and as a health care worker here in the USA I can verify that the requirements for obtaining a “MEDICAL MARIJUANA” card are far from stringent. I have to assume that the cultivation of marijuana here poses a financial threat to the huge tax revenues that these states are generating from “LEGAL” marijuana. Let me say that I believe that the burden is on the US government to deter the drug traffickers from importing, untaxed, a partially legal substance in to their country.

    As for the country of Dominica, our leaders need to take a page from that book. Due to the downturn of the US economy, states have decriminalized marijuana use and sales for the purposes of collecting taxes and under the umbrella of being medically beneficial there has been a new sub-market created in medicinal products Consequently, the income generated from this market creates employment for citizens and helps alleviate the state’s burdens of balancing budgets, that otherwise would see severe shortfalls.

    Additionally, the law enforcement resources that would otherwise be drained by combating the illicit drug trade can now be redirected and mobilized towards other municipal and states services. These are important and objective facts that need to be reviewed by our lawmakers and media when they present with drug facts which seem to cast us in a negative light. The question should be; “how can we mold these changes implemented by larger, more complex societies to create an advantage for our people?”

    We have to begin to gradually deviate from the outdated policies that seemingly are failing to advance our societies and people as a whole in to this century. Advanced nations remain at the fore front of the international society by reinventing or restructuring themselves and their organizational arrangements as a whole. We MUST look at that model of governance then make an attempt to adopt some of it’s principals. How else can we move forward in an every changing world? History shows us that anything that fails to evolve eventually becomes extinct.

    Please, let us stop the hemorrhaging within our small island nation and collectively ask that the leadership put the personal politics aside for now in the interest of advancing the country for those that will take it over tomorrow.

    A concerned member of the Diaspora

    • Really Concerned
      March 4, 2011

      Nice Piece – Very informative.

      Question: Do you support the legalization of all drugs or just marijuana? Decriminalizing all drugs would no doubt alleviate drug enforcement resources that are so desperately needed in other areas. The only challenge that I see is rehabilitation. Many believe that some people that are afraid of the criminal stigma that is associated with drug use, may find it easy to become addicts if doing drugs become legal.

      From economical and political perspectives, I see nothing wrong with a small island nation taking the lead in legalizing drugs. The US and other developed countries will eventually realize that the war on drugs cannot be won unless addressed from a social perspective. Fighting drug traffickers and drug lords is not the answer. The demand is not declining when a drug lord is captured or when a marijuana field is destroyed.

      The demand for drugs can only decline when cocaine, marijuana and other addictive drugs are devalued and are no longer attractive. My take on the whole thing is that governments should legalize drugs, take over the entire industry, generate tons of revenue while drugs are still considered “cool”, and then devalue them all. Following that, private industry can take over and operate in a legal and legitimate environment based on demand. There might be more addicts, but they will be legally addicted. More over, the jails will be empty because about half of the crimes committed these days are related to drugs. Make the price of getting high so low, or even free, that you won’t even have to commit a crime to afford to get high.

  11. Stealth Critique
    March 4, 2011

    Unsubstantiated US propaganda.

  12. Mikes
    March 4, 2011

    Well the evidence is in. “The Dominica Police Force (DPF) estimates that 100-200 kilograms of cocaine are transited to Dominica from Venezuela each week,” the report said. “According to the DPF, this represents an increase in cocaine transiting the island.”
    So as the relation between the two countries strengthen, the Drug trade increases substantially!

  13. The Reader
    March 4, 2011

    Dear Uncle Sam,
    maybe if Dole and Chiquita didn’t hijack our banana market in Europe we would still be planting fig instead of weed. Just maybe! PS. Can you add us to your anual budget like you did for the Palestinians, who as u know don’t like you. We love you more than they do, we leave in your backyard and our ancestors use to work for you for free to help you build that powerful nation.

    Sincerely
    The Reader

    • Really Concerned
      March 4, 2011

      This is the best thing I’ve read here all week. There is one thing you could add; Can Uncle Sam allow our bananas and some of our water to flow into his US market? That would be easier than sending them to Europe.

    • No Dog Bark
      March 4, 2011

      Now we talking & making sense. @ The Reader its people like U that can help Dominicans think critically by looking @ the root causes for the problems we face as a nation.

    • wesleyman
      March 4, 2011

      next time you post< the word is LIVE, you teacher used to say you will spell as you speak, but you Roseau people dint listen so thats why you on here saying LEAVE for LIVE and Fink for Think, the work is reading this, dont make us shame

      • Anonymous
        March 4, 2011

        u meant ‘your teacher’; right?

      • boss
        March 4, 2011

        very nice post from the reader …@wesleyman its ppl like u that get to me. u find1 error in the comment and only focus on it.typical dominican

  14. Muslim_Always
    March 4, 2011

    Marijuana is a natural plant for crying out loud! Decriminalize the plant, use the plant for manufacturing clothes, soaps and other products especially medicine!

    America needs to stop talking rubbish and clean it’s backyard! It’s their very politicians who are involved with cocaine to deal with their stress. They are the main ones demanding the product.

    • aaahhhhwo
      March 4, 2011

      yeh man….mi def sponsor wah u say….. decriminalize d herb man… they should pay more attention to the coke n crack epidemic in the island.. u zeeit??..we shouldnt b importing vincee b.s… leave the herbalist alone…

    • wesleyman
      March 4, 2011

      And in your openion all the parro’s in the street in Roseau and the other villages because of the transit cocaine, people who used to be productive members of society who are now on the streets and stealing from their fellow men, you still think thats an american problem?

      • Muslim_Always
        March 4, 2011

        Wesleyman, you are not getting to the root of the problem. Do we manufacture cocaine? No!

  15. Deoborah
    March 4, 2011

    The Venezuela connection again. De ALBA!

  16. Ro
    March 4, 2011

    The pic of Marijuana is misleading as Dominica always had marijuana. The real drug is problem is cocaine and other crap that keeps flooding into the country. Marijuana never killed anybody.

  17. worried dominican
    March 4, 2011

    the pm always it to come in and pass through dominica,he gets his cut,thats why he got rid of the magistrate,we are not fools skerro,the day will come to and end soon.they got eyes on you,the truth will be revealed.

  18. Gee
    March 4, 2011

    …..AND We still think a State house is a top priority????

  19. gwo pwel
    March 4, 2011

    ha ha catch dem they spoiling our kids

    • aaahhhhwo
      March 4, 2011

      yeh u right… the CRACK and COKE man spoiling our kids yo..weed NEVR kill nuhbody… FACT

  20. Negre Mawon
    March 4, 2011

    Interesting information.We’re definitely going down the wrong path.

Post a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

:) :-D :wink: :( 8-O :lol: :-| :cry: 8) :-? :-P :-x :?: :oops: :twisted: :mrgreen: more »

 characters available