Hard drug use higher among Indo-Fijians - police

Fijians of Indian descent represent a higher percentage of people who are found using and in possession of hard drugs, The Fiji Times reported Tuesday.

Fiji Police assistant superindentent Reshmi Singh told the newspaper that the country had a population of 929,000, comprising 348,375 Indo-Fijians and 527,672 indigenous Fijians.

She said from January to July this year, there were 319 (0.9 percent) Indo-Fijians who consumed illicit drugs, compared to 808 (0.15 percent) iTaukei for the same period.

Last month, the head of the country's only mental health facility said it was struggling to cope due to an increases in case in drugs related cases.

In August, Fiji's Women's and Children's Minister called for the return of the death penalty to tackle the drug problem, but Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said it was not a viable solution.

ASP Singh noted a higher number of substance abuse cases within the Indo-Fijian community, which she said was directly linked to an increase in domestic violence.

"Indigenous people do consume methamphetamine, but then they would share it around," she was quoted as saying in The Fiji Times' report.

"The Indo-Fijians, who work in good places, are the ones who can afford and thus their number is higher."

She added that "most of the drug seizures" involved Fijians of Indian descent.

Singh urged faith-based groups to play a bigger role, telling the newspaper that there was "usually no response" from Indo-Fijian religious groups to invite police to raise awareness about the issue in their community.

Mahesh Chand Sharma, a leader of the Shree Sanatan Dharam Purohit Sabha, told the newspaper that while their community discusses these issues, they "do not see the need to call the police".

While Pundit Vishnu Deo, a representative of the Shree Sanatan Dharam Purohit Brahman Maha Sabha Fiji, said they had involved "influential people" to talk to young people and they would look into including police in future efforts.