Smugglers and the Saudi drug policy

Saudi Arabia’s stance on drugs seems unequivocal.

Every visa application clearly states thatdrug smuggling is punishable by death. In case that’s not clear enough, every airport, every border crossing, every port, every stop along the Causeway also has clearly posted signs telling anyone who cares that drug smuggling is punishable by death.

Yet the drugs keep coming.

In the last two months alone, according to just released statistics from the Riyadh Customs folks, 14 million Captagon tablets were confiscated! In addition, agents in the Kingdom’s capital seized 41 kg of hashish and 4 kg of heroine.

During that same time over in Jazan along the Red Sea and near the border with Yemen, customs agents seized another 37,509 Captagon tablets and 1,001 kg of hashish, not to mention 1,535 bottles of alcohol, 13,999 rounds of live ammunition, 28 weapons, 30kg of explosives, eight sticks of dynamite and a pen gun– whatever that is!

(Oh and they also confiscated 1.98 million kg of flour and 914,740 kg of barley. Mmm)

Back in June, smugglers were caught in Al Jouf in northern Saudi trying to get more than 6 million Captagon tablets, 3,002 kg of hashish, 19.5 kg of heroine across the border.

And in March in Jeddah a drug gang was broken up after they were caught trying to smuggle 3.4 million Captagon tablets and 1,768 kg of hashish into the Kingdom.

That’s a whole lotta drugs smuggled into a country with such a hard line stance on drug smuggling. (And remember, those are only the ones being caught...)

Some might say the hard line isn’t working. That education and rehabilitation might be a better approach, but that doesn’t fit into the history of Saudi Arabia, a history where lessons have always been learned - and taught - the hard way, as detailed in this story by Robert Fisk.

Death by the blade is something all Saudis know of but few wish to discuss. But yesterday, I spoke to a man who had once flown over the Saudi desert with the old King Abdul Aziz. "The king wanted to show me a village," he said. "I didn't know why but when we got overhead, it was just a deserted place with a few stray dogs.

"And then the king said to me: `The people of this village used to rob the caravans to Mecca and I warned them to stop. They didn't listen to me, so I warned them again. Again, they didn't listen. So I sent my guards to the village and they cut off the heads of every man, woman and child. And they waited for villagers to return from far away. And they cut off their heads too. And there was no more robbery. If you are going to rule, you must use your power and be firm.

I don’t know what the solution to the so-called War on Drugs is.

Maybe it’s a hard line like that applied here in Saudi and elsewhere, maybe it’s a more harm reduction line like that of the Netherlands.

Maybe it’s a line that works to reduce both supply and demand like that in Australia, or one that focuses equally on education, rehabilitation and enforcement like the current drug policy in the States.

Whatever the solution is, we as a people – we as people of the world – need to find it, because what we're doing now - here, there and everywhere - doesn't seem to be working.

Especially in places like Saudi - or at least according to the United Nations' Office Of Drugs and Crime.

"As restrictions on the drugs in the U.S. and Europe grew tighter, drug traffickers looked for new customers in other countries, Costa said in an interview.

"It is worrisome," he said of rising drug use in Saudi Arabia. "The country is new to drugs. They have not set up a structure to deal with it. The seizure of synthetic drugs in Saudi Arabia was greater than the sum of what was seized in the United States and China combined."

Apparently the signs - and the threats - aren't working.

Should governments be held accountable for drug abuse or should individuals?