Drugs 2

This is World Xtra from the BBC. In this series we look at various ideas that you may hear about in the news and current affairs programmes.

John talks to an expert in every programme, who can tell us all about the topic. Today’s topic is the global drugs trade.

John: Hello. Today we ask another big question. What can be done to stop the global trade in illegal drugs? What can be done to stop drugs trafficking?

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John: We’ll be hearing from Michael Platzer of the United Nations, who has spent most of his life trying to stop the drugs trade. In some years he’s seen a reduction in the amount of drugs trafficked, in other years he’s seen an increase in consumption and the supply of drugs.

John: Many people feel that the battle against drugs is not being won. Michael Platzer says drugs trafficking is obviously a social and cultural problem, it's a money problem and a problem of attitude. He mentions some of the ways in which the drugs problem can be tackled. What is the answer?

Platzer: I wish we knew. I think you have to operate at many different levels. It’s obviously a social cultural problem. It’s one of money, it’s one of attitude. I think we have to push at all these levels. We have to keep the law enforcement organisations going, we have to worry about the demand for drugs among our youth and we have to provide appropriate sanctions for those who traffic and those who try to corrupt our societies.

John: Drugs are either farmed from natural sources, or produced in a factory from chemicals. Trying to prevent their production is very difficult.

John: Steven Flynn has worked in the field of drug control for more than 10 years. He says one way of reducing drugs production and consumption is through civil society – through groups that exist in society that are organised informally by citizens and not by the state. He says drugs are an age old problem. Controversially, Steven believes we should not hope to eradicate production of drugs completely. He believes that’s just not possible.

Flynn: Ultimately the lesson of the drug trade is I think the need for civil society, that is the institutions that work in the socio-economic spheres to step up to the problem and work together to manage it.

Flynn: What we need to do is move away from a view that somehow we can eradicate production, eradicate traffic, eradicate consumption – these are age old problems that will be around as long as man is around. What we need to do is make it manageable and you need to rely on the private sector, you need to rely on church groups, religious organisations, other players to work within the civil society to try to somehow keep this problem within check.”

Sting: World Xtra from the BBC

Let’s look again at some of the words and phrases we heard in John’s report.

We heard about drug production and drug consumption. Production means making drugs, and consumption means using them – obviously two key areas which are focussed on in the battle against drugs.

Two other phrases we heard were law enforcement and civil society. These are two different methods which may help to reduce the use and sale of drugs in a country. Law enforcement is what the police do – arresting those who break the laws on drugs. Civil society describes the network of groups and people not directly influenced or funded by the government, but who may have a powerful effect on society in general.

We also heard the phrase keeping the problem in check, or within check. This phrase can be used to talk about all sorts of things including the problem of drugs. It means to keep something under control or manageable.

This edition of World Xtra looked at the problem of the global drugs trade.