Australia’s bloodless ‘war on dugs’

By Herbert Vego

AUSTRALIA, the “country down under,” has around three million of its residents addicted to prohibited drugs.  But the police don’t shoot people for drug addiction. They deal with it as a disease calling for medical attention.

Let me recall my conversation with a vacationing Filipino nurse who works in Sydney, Australia. Denmark Suede — son of the late Bombo Radyo broadcaster Eddie K. Suede – spoke of himself as directly involved in rehabilitating Australian drug dependents.

“I have administered methadone on them,” he quipped. The methadone program is available for free in certain rehab centers.

Methadone, a synthetic opioid to treat extreme pain, doubles as treatment for addiction to prohibited drugs, such as heroin and methamphetamine or shabu. Available in tablet, powder and liquid forms, it blocks the “high” effect of addictive drugs.

“You can sniff marijuana in Australia,” Suede explained. “The police will not arrest you unless you drive a motor vehicle.”

In other words, crackdown is not strictly enforced unless necessary.

Obviously, it’s because, like alcohol, marijuana impairs judgment, motor coordination, and reaction time. Studies have found a direct relationship between its blood concentration and impaired driving ability.

Suede said that while there is vigorous drive by the Australian government to rehabilitate drug dependents, they are never treated as criminals unless they commit crimes. Killings done as a result of drug addiction are rare.

“Mass killings are now unheard of,” he revealed.  He cited the celebrated case of 28-year-old Martin Bryant who shot and killed 35 people in a café in 1996.  But he was schizophrenic, not a drug addict

Suede attributed peace in Australia to its small population that partakes of its huge material wealth. Its land area is almost as big as the United States but its current population of only 26,000,000 is less than one-fourth of the Philippine population.

His logic is believable when contrasted with the Philippine setting where shabu-pushing among the poor is directly related to the need to make both ends meet. Cases of jeepney and tricycle drivers doubling as shabu couriers have been well-recorded.

“How could I feed my family on an income below the minimum wage?”

It is a common excuse heard from Filipinos who survive below the poverty threshold of P12,000 per month for a family of five, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.

“Necessity knows no law,” goes a popular quotation. It mirrors the reality that pushers risk life and limb  to keep their loved ones alive. The alternative, mass hunger, could be a quicker path to the graveyard.

But with the bread winner eliminated, how would the bereaved survive with no decent jobs available for them?

On the other hand, where good luck replaces lack, they would no longer turn to crime for a living. In other words, the best way to win the war on drugs is to win the war on poverty first.

I personally experienced how it is to live in a place where tourists are safe from drug users. It was during a vacation in Tauranga, New Zealand that I met a male drug user singing a lively song on a street corner.

My Filipino companion, a long-time New Zealand resident, whispered to me that the “familiar singer” was not harmful.

“Let’s drink to that,” I said as we walked to the nearest bank to withdraw money.  Amazingly, the bank had no security guard.

-oOo-

WOMAN POWER AT MORE POWER

Do you know that a good number of executives at MORE Electric and Power Corp. are women?  They include Ma. Cristina D. Cabalhin, the Vice President for Marketing and Corporate Affairs; Atty. Mishiele A. Villagracia, Vice President and Comptroller; Ma. Cecilia C. Pe, Asst. Vice President, Customer Care; Atty. Allana Mae A. Babayen-on, Assistant Vice President, Legal Officer, and Assistant Corporate Secretary.

There is even a place for Krizelle Anne Corbal, MORE Power’s distribution engineer. Here are a few words said of her on the company’s Facebook page:

“Despite being a woman in a traditionally male-dominated field, Engr. Anne has never viewed her gender as an obstacle in performing tasks typically associated with men. On the contrary, she considers herself a role model to young women who aspire to follow in her footsteps.

“Thanks to the equal opportunities that MORE Power has provided for women, the door is now open for the next generation of women engineers to succeed in a field where men have historically dominated. With their commitment to gender equality, MORE Power serves as a beacon of hope for women seeking to carve out their own path in the energy industry.”

Indeed, based on a 2022 study conducted by McKinsey & Company, women only comprise 32% of the technical and engineering roles within the industry.

Congrats, Engr. Krizelle.