The white poison is rearing its ugly head more often than ever. The latest revelation by the police shows the complexity of the networks meth masterminds use to distribute the narcotic and spread poison into the society.

The Samoa Police has stumbled upon a meth distribution ring involving taxis as 14 people were arrested from various locations over the weekend connected to illicit drugs, spreading like wildfire in the community.

“While police were carrying out their search, they saw taxis from DB Stand turning in and driving out quickly and are suspected to have some involvement in drug distribution,” said Police Commissioner Auapaau Logoitino Filipo.

He said one of the men charged has a pending case related to drugs and five others are known to the authorities and are suspected to be the “runners”.

It has been repeated that the meth distributors are an organised bunch and unlike the dealers of the past, there is a structure to the operation. The police are well aware of this and this is why it seems there is a push from them to establish a narcotics bureau.

This will require changes in law. Changes that the government cannot sit on. These are things that need to be done immediately. The police need more power when it comes to dealing with meth. The Narcotics Act is too old and it needs to be updated.

Meth is moving in fast and it has already made a home in Samoa. The longer the wait to change policies and laws in dealing with the narcotic, the more drastic the situation will become. The cost of living and the money in the meth trade is luring many.

The Minister for Customs Tuala Iosefo Ponifasio has boldly stated that meth is being manufactured locally and there was no way that it is slipping through the border and customs. That is a theory, which cannot be bought.

To date, the person caught importing the biggest amount of meth was a customs officer. Pueleo Peseta is also the only person not to be handed a jail term for possession of narcotics. He was caught with almost a kilo of meth.

This shows that to ensure no meth is coming through the borders, customs officers and law enforcement officers have to be incorruptible. That is the only way a narcotics bureau could work.

Meanwhile, the Police Commissioner maintained the drugs are slipping through borders noting information from drug suspects during interrogation alleged the illicit drugs are from overseas.   

“Meth is spreading wildly and we are continuing operation to catch those involved,” he said.

“In every raid, we have had the items confiscated are mainly utensils and meth but there has been no lab equipment discovered to suggest that it is cooked in Samoa.”

That sounds more plausible than the statement by the Customs Minister.

Earlier this year, 4000 kilos of meth were discovered in Fiji. Experts in transnational crime including Jose Sousa Santos have said that this showed the evolving nature of the drug trade in the region. It was said that Fiji was now a storage hub for the drugs to be distributed to other nations including Australia and New Zealand.

This is called the drip theory. The narcotics are held from reaching high-demand markets and only to be introduced at a time when they fetch the maximum price. Fiji is not that far from Samoa, Tonga and American Samoa. If the nature of this trade is organised, bringing it into Samoa is as easy as a pleasure boat from Pago Pago.

The distribution network shows that everyone wants a piece of the meth cake. It is lucrative and enticing. However, it comes with a cost. It poisons the very fabric of our society. We are seeing the effects and it is no longer something we can turn a blind eye to.

Urgent action is needed; for this we need a system with incorruptible people, the best laws, and the determination to help law enforcement in every possible way.