Last year there were 237 homicides in the country, 62 of which were linked to criminal activities and three related directly to drugs, according to statistics from the Attorney General. The Chief of the National Police himself, Major General Manuel Castro Castillo, said recently that 75% of the crimes registered in the country are related to the widespread consumption of drugs. The officer said that the violence “produces deaths caused by criminals in order to consume drugs.” By the middle of this year the DNCD had warned about the increase of 54% in the amount of drugs seized, which was 7,125 kilograms in the first six months, when some 12,910 people were arrested. In the same period, the National Police, through its Central Anti-Narcotics Directorate, seized 170,850 grams of controlled substances.
Nevertheless, despite monitoring the problem and the social consequences that are generated by drug consumption, the authorities have not managed to define a national policy that tackles this social ill preventively. Neither have they assigned sufficient resources in order for the organizations that work in the prevention or rehabilitation of addicts to be able to do their work efficiently, forcing many to close some of their programs. In this position several state entities and non-governmental agencies that work on this issue concur, using the opportunity of the current discussions on the budget for 2014, and they intensified their call for increasing the money assigned to this work. Entities like Casa Abierta, Hogares Crea, Ninos del Camino, and Ciudades del Refugio each described their economic problems. A long article in Diario Libre today, Thursday 31 October notes that 91 institutions and agencies are dealing with drug-related issues, yet none of them appear to be well funded. As one of the directors commented, “If it were not for the grace of God, we would have to close down our operations.”
www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2013/10/31/i409053_falta-recursos-deteriora-combate-consumo-drogas.html