SUVA, July 9 (Xinhua) -- The impact of hard drugs to a small island nation like Fiji is devastating, a Fijian police chief said on Tuesday.
"The impacts of this on a small country like ours will be very devastating, productive people made unproductive, the strain on the health system, the strain on the economy will be huge," Fiji's Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho told 15 police officers who will head to China for a two-week-long specialized drug investigation training.
According to Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBC), Qiliho said that the shattering impact is his biggest worry as the smuggling of hard drugs continues to evolve every day in Fiji.
The police commissioner is thankful for the training provided by the Chinese government as it will enhance Fiji's work of fighting against the smuggling of hard drugs into the country.
Fiji's Deputy Secretary for Defence and National Security Ilai Moceica said at the Narcotics Workshop in Fiji's capital Suva that 100 patients were admitted at a local psychiatric hospital between May 2017 to April 2018 due to substance abuse.
The most commonly abused substances are marijuana, methamphetamine, cigarettes, kava and alcohol, Moceica said.
Moceica urged stakeholders to holistically view this as a national problem and come up with strategic solutions that will not only allow enforcement agencies to curb the illicit use of drugs and eradicating cultivators but to commit Fiji's resources and time to this worthy cause.
Last year, the Fijian police seized drugs worth over 94 million U.S. dollars in the island nation.
