Society demands that examples be made of addicts

Opium production in Asia is set to rise, and more and more illicit drugs are being sold through social media, targeting young adults, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) warned in its recently released annual report. 

Hamid Ghose, president of the Vienna-based UN agency, pointed to several factors which he said “could lead to even further increases in (opium) production beyond 2011”.

While North America remains the biggest market for drugs overall, Europe is the biggest consumer of opiates. Europe is also the world’s second biggest market for cocaine. The report identified heroin as causing the most problems in terms of health and mortality. 

But illicit drug use is not solely a Western problem. Opium production has been increasing in our region, namely Laos and Burma, feeding local markets. Successive governments have declared war on drugs but their efforts come across as trying to get votes rather then getting to the bottom of the problem and the social dynamics of drug abuse. 

It’s easy for our law-makers to label drug use as a “crime” rather than a “social problem”. We went through this mess in early 2003 when the police under the then-government of Thaksin Shinawatra went on a killing spree under the guise of a “war on drugs” that ended in the extra-judicial deaths of some 2,500 people. 

The fact that the general public mostly supported his dangerous endeavour says something about our society, and it’s not good. A healthy society would not tolerate such methods to solve a social problem. But this goes back to how our society and our leaders frame the problem. If we are to understand drug abuse as a social problem, then we will have to talk about education, employment, social equality and mobility among other things. 

Apparently, for Thailand, it is easier just to take lives, as if the problem is going to go away with the deaths of some drug users. 

The drug debate in Thailand often misses the point. Take the recent publicity involving rock star Seksan “Sek Loso” Sukpimai, and the Office of the Narcotic Control Board (ONCB).

The issue came about after Sek went public about his drug use and told the media that if Thai society doesn’t like his behaviour, he is willing to move to London, a place where he can supposedly live a freer lifestyle.

ONCB chief Adul Saengsingkaeo, a police general, saw it as his duty to summon the star to his office and straighten him out. The top drug tsar apparently believes he has the moral authority to “set people straight”. 

But taking the moral high ground doesn’t necessarily make one “better” than anyone else. The spitting contest between Adul, a senior law enforcement officer with an inflated ego, and rock star Sek Loso was more about a show of force on the former’s part, and a celebrity’s attempt to demonstrate that he can be his own man. Sek Loso’s point is that he is a free-spirited person who should be able to take drugs as long as he doesn’t harm or violate the rights of others.

People who take up any top government post will always get offended. It goes with the job. But one person’s arrogance doesn’t justify another person reacting in the same manner. Adul seems so concerned about the life of a drug-addict rock star, but perhaps he should look for other trees to bark up. There are plenty of children and young adults out there on the street who need help and attention, not just one rock star who finally gave in to the demands of the ONCB and went through the motions that society prescribes “for people like him” – a public apology, hugs and kisses with parents, a visit to monks, and appearances with political bigwigs who, incidentally, are not generally known for their moral authority.

The problem with our society and our policy-makers especially is that no one really knows the line between integrity and showmanship. And as they go through the motions, thinking they are righting wrongs, there is a tendency to lose sight of reality.