SUVA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- There is no specific drug rehabilitation center in Fiji dealing with the increasing number of people using hard drugs, local media reported on Wednesday.
Fiji's Deputy Secretary for Defence and National Security Ilai Moceica said at the Narcotics Workshop in Fiji's capital Suva on Wednesday that 100 patients were admitted at Saint Giles Hospital, a psychiatric hospital, between May 2017 to April 2018 due to substance abuse, according to a government statement.
The most commonly abused substances are marijuana, methamphetamine, cigarettes, kava and alcohol, Moceica said, adding that the Fiji Police can only do so much in their efforts to address the drug problem in the island nation.
Moceica urged stakeholders to holistically view this as a national problem and come up with strategic solutions that would not only allow enforcement agencies to curb the illicit use of drugs and eradicating cultivators but to commit Fiji's resources and time to this worthy cause.
Fiji's Commissioner of Police Sitiveni Qiliho said earlier that the war on drugs was a never-ending battle that evolved at a rapid pace in Fiji and an integrated, multilateral, and multi-agency response to control drug problems was needed.
Last year, the Fijian police seized drugs worth over 94 million U.S. dollars during various operations in the island nation.
The workshop will address all aspects of the worldwide drug problem but with solutions specifically for Fiji.
