Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Bissau (Agenzia Fides) - "As a Church, we are concerned about the damage caused by drugs because they destabilize the country, ruin the economy and their trafficking is seen as an easy way to enrich themselves," say the Catholic priests of Guinea-Bissau in a statement released at the end of their general assembly. Drugs are a social scourge, explain the priests, because "there are deaths, families who care for orphaned children, and if we look at this whole scenario, we will see that drug trafficking is causing instability in Guinea-Bissau and a significant increase in cross-border crime in our country". It is precisely cross-border crime that has made Guinea-Bissau an important hub for the cocaine trafficking from South America to Europe, via West Africa, the Sahel and then North Africa, since the early 2000s. The country's chronic political instability (there have been 17 coups since independence in 1974) has allowed Colombian drug traffickers to establish themselves in the country, followed by the Italian 'Ndrangheta, the powerful mafia of Calabrian origin that plays a central role in the spread of the "white powder" around the world. The drugs arrive by sea in the archipelago of the Bijagós Islands (88 larger and smaller islands that are difficult to control by the weak and corrupt local military and police forces), where they are stored and then begin their journey via Senegal and Guinea Conakry to Mali and Mauritania, from where they are finally transported to Europe. Over the years, West African countries have gone from being mere transit countries for drugs to being an outlet for consumption (see Fides, 29/6/2024). Not so much and not only from cocaine, but above all from drug mixtures known as Kush. These mixtures have already caused social alarm in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea Conakry (see Fides, 27/10/2023 and 8/4/2024). With their statement, the priests of Guinea-Bissau make it clear that the problem also affects their country. "We call on the authorities of Guinea-Bissau to immediately engage in the fight against drug trafficking," they explain. This is all the more true since an analysis of Kush samples carried out by a Dutch institute on behalf of the governments of Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau revealed the presence of synthetic cannabinoids and nitazen, powerful synthetic opioids. The latter, also known as benzimidazole opioids, are causing alarm in the drug centers of the most developed countries because they are spreading to replace traditional opioids such as heroin. Nitazenes are up to 20 times more potent than fentanyl, which in turn is 50 times more potent than heroin and 80-100 times more potent than morphine. It is therefore understandable that taking these substances has harmful effects due to their high addictive potential and the possibility of causing respiratory arrest. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 4/7/2024)
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