New Drug Strategy Master Plan being drafted

-Guyana’s drug fight commendable

The Home Affairs Ministry is currently working on the formulation of the National Drug Strategy Master Plan 2013-2018. At present, an Inception Report, which will inform the consultative process and the design of the plan, has been completed.
This document will be taken to Cabinet shortly for its approval after which the Ministry will move swiftly to advance the consultative process with a view to completion of the Master Plan within six months.
In the interim, the Ministry and its sub-agencies are guided by the collective understanding reached at the level of the Central Intelligence Committee and the Task Force on Narcotics and Illicit Weapons, as well as by the principles of the current Master Plan; which, according to Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, can be deemed as work in progress.
“There is now more than ever before, greater coordination and collaboration among the Law Enforcement Agencies engaged in the fight against drug trafficking,” Minister Rohee said.
During the period 2006-2011, the Home Affairs Ministry initiated certain organisational and leadership changes at the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU). This change saw more robust and proactive approaches being adopted by the organisation.
Minister Rohee posited that, “in the end these changes bore fruit so much so that we saw CANU scoring more and more successes in their fight against trafficking and possession of narcotics.”
Additionally, the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) has taken the bold initiative to establish a Drug Enforcement Unit and a Port Control Unit under the Government of Guyana/United Nations Office On Drugs and Crime (GoG/UNODC) Container Control Programme.
This will help considerably in strengthening the efforts of the Guyana Police Force’s Anti-Narcotics Branch and the CANU.
In terms of bilateral cooperation, the Ministry, over the past five years, has successfully managed to establish mutually beneficial agreements with its counterparts in neighbouring countries: Brazil, Venezuela and Suriname, as well as other countries with which Guyana enjoys friendly relations.
Guyana participated in numerous international forums on transnational organised crimes and trafficking in narcotics and firearms.
Representatives of the Ministry and local law enforcement were active participants at international events organised by the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), the Organisation of American States (OAS), UNODC, IMPACS and the Bureau of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Ministerial Council for Security and Law Enforcement (CONSLE).
Through these engagements, Guyana now has a deeper and broader appreciation of regional, hemispheric and global developments and with regards to the global fight against crime, trafficking in narcotics and firearms and the collective efforts that are required to cooperate in countering these criminal enterprises.