Drug abuse awareness day stresses rehabilitation over punishment

Honorary guests release baloons at the event to raise awareness across the city

Yesterday was the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, as decreed by the United Nations. Seeking to raise awareness of the societal problems instigated by drug abuse, the international event was observed a day earlier in Macau, on Sunday, with an event organized by the Drug Abusers’ Rehabilitation Association (ARTM) at Praça da Amizade.

Bringing together several concerned associations from across Macau, the drug abuse awareness event featured a total of 10 individual booths and an information installation in the middle of the square.

Carrying the slogan, “Support; don’t punish,” the booths were occupied by associations such as the Young Men’s Christian Association of Macau and Indonesian anti-drug group, Hindari Narkoba.

One booth was selling charity artworks produced by children and young adults, while another offered passersby the chance to paint a t-shirt with an anti-drug message. A third booth, operated by ARTM’s psychology counselor Joel Tam, featured a wire loop game, which honorary guest Philippine Consul General Lilybeth Deapera tried her hand at and almost completed.

The ARTM booth also allowed visitors to don a pair of goggles that obscured the user’s vision and reproduced – in an exaggerated manner – the optical impairment caused by alcohol intoxication.

Referring to the event’s slogan, Tam explained that the message is a call for society to reevaluate how drug addicts should be treated. “‘Support; don’t punish’ means that addicts need support, but punishment lowers their intention to seek help,” he explained.

Rute Borges, coordinator at ARTM, was leading Sunday’s activities as the chief representative of the anti-drug abuse organization. She told the Times that there is a problem with the way the authorities treat drug addicts as criminals.

“We are trying to fight for the right to consider drug abuse as a disease and not punish those who are users,” said Borges. “They [drug abusers] have a disease, so they need to be treated.”

The information installation in the center of the plaza contained warnings about the use of several drugs, including alcohol, heroin and ecstasy. It read in large print: “Stay away from drugs; stay true to yourself.”

It also contained a list of some of the current punishments for drug use and trafficking. According to the notice, possession of illicit drugs for personal consumption carries a sentence of three months to one year, while selling, offering, distributing or transporting drugs is punishable by up to 15 years and a fine of MOP700,000.

The aforementioned penalties for drug consumption and distribution originate from a bill, approved last year at the Legislative Assembly, which introduced tougher sentences for narcotics users and traffickers.

A proponent of the bill, Secretary for Administration and Justice Sonia Chan, argued at the time that a rise in drug trafficking cases necessitated the new penalties as the “[current] deterrent effect is minor.”

But ARTM President Augusto Nogueira is adamant that tougher prison sentences will not have an effect on discouraging drug abuse. He has stressed on previous occasions that rehabilitation is a more effective remedy than penalization.

This is an opinion shared by his colleague, Borges. She said that from the experience of other jurisdictions, punishments do not serve as a reliable deterrent, and heightening their severity is unlikely to discourage users.

In her opinion, Macau ought to adopt similar measures to those implemented in some European countries – particularly Portugal, which decriminalized the private consumption of all drugs in 2001. Drug use among young adults has consistently fallen over the interim period in Portugal, and advocates of decriminalization attribute this to the policy of decriminalization.

Nevertheless, according to statistics released after a meeting between the Social Welfare Bureau and the Narcotics Control Commission last month, the number of Macau youngsters on a list of registered drug abusers fell considerably in 2016. The total number of registered drug users in the territory last year was 548, representing a drop of about 55 percent year- on-year.

“I think Macau is a bit far from [decriminalization] right now,” noted Borges. “We have a syringe exchange program for people with a dependence […] this is a good start and we hope to develop from there.”

Despite its legislative independence, Macau is subject to the ideology championed by Beijing, which includes a non-negotiable tough stance on drug use, justified under the pretext of morality.

According to the Information Office of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, “illicit drugs bring calamity to any country and people. […] Launching an anti-drug struggle to eliminate the drug scourge is the historical responsibility of the Chinese government.”

Beijing’s sensitivity to drug addiction is understandable given the significance of the “Century of Humiliation” in the Chinese national consciousness. Referring to the period of intervention by foreign powers between 1839 and 1949, the Century of Humiliation began with the first Anglo-Chinese Opium War.

The mainland’s Information Office, in a statement dated June 2000, described “wiping out the scourge of opium” as “a miracle acknowledged by the whole world.”

“The history is something that we need to think about. It’s always relevant,” said Borges.

“In mainland China, [a policy focused on rehabilitation] is not very likely […] but we are a bit more open in Macau, so maybe we can bring some new methods for tackling the problem [of drug abuse] to China,” she added.

Macau’s most popular drug

Asked about the prevalence in Macau of crystal methamphetamine, commonly known as “ice”, the coordinator of the Drug Abusers’ Rehabilitation Association, Rute Borges, said that the drug has become the most popular narcotic among all age groups. “In Macau, there are teenagers using [crystal methamphetamine] in schools and we know that the foreign communities living in Macau are using it a lot, as well as many Chinese people,” said Borges. “It also affects older people. We have had some cases of people aged 60, 65 and 70 years old who are using the drug.” The reason for its prevalence is due to its comparative affordability, she said, “but it’s also the worst drug. It creates damage very fast, both physically and mentally. This is a very worrying development here in Macau.”