Forest Hills Central
New Zealand (Aotearoa)
Special Political Committee (SPECPOL): International Drug Trade
For quite a few years, there has been an underlying problem of drug trafficking. This is an illegal trade (illicit, at that), spans internationally, and has many, many ramifications. Drug trafficking involves many illicit substances, most notably cocaine and opium (in the form of heroin and mostly originating from Asia). There have only been a small number of successful seizures of said substances, with only 73.7 metric tons of heroin being seized in 2008. When the people trading them are caught, they are always put through serious consequences. Along with drugs, many people are being trafficked; for sex, labor, and other reasons. We can not allow this to keep happening.
This crisis affects New Zealand in a very profound way. Many drugs, most notably heroin, have been illegally traded to our black markets for quite a few years. Global heroin is produced in four main regions, Afghanistan, China, Southeast Asia (Laos and Cambodia), and South America (Colombia and Bolivia). Most of the Heroin that reaches New Zealand is from Afghanistan or the Monsoon Asian region of Asia. While many opioids are legal in New Zealand, heroin, which is an opioid, is outlawed in all cases, but many people use it regardless. Our situation may be regarded as almost as bad of an epidemic as the opioid crisis in our allied nation, the United States of America.
Drugs such as cocaine have also been traded throughout many countries, although they have not made it to New Zealand as much as heroin has.
Meanwhile, amphetamine-type stimulant labs and cannabis farms have been found all across Oceania, most notably in Australia and in our very own New Zealand.
We, the nation of New Zealand, believe that illicit drug trade and usage are detrimental to our people, which is why many drugs involved here, such as cannabis, heroin, and amphetamines, are banned in our country, and that this issue must be resolved as soon as possible, as anything that goes against law must be stopped and inspected immediately.
Once committee has convened on this issue, there are several things that we could do. Our delegation of New Zealand will move to support any resolution that would ban all trade of heroin, cocaine, and other drugs that are widely outlawed because they are considered harmful and make sure that nothing of the type could be transferred between countries by implementing stricter trade policies. If anyone gets caught trading, it will be an automatic trial under the jurisdiction of the country in which the perpetrator is caught. The judicial process and laws of said country will apply. I also urge other delegates to propose resolutions that would fix this crisis and bring an end to the illegal drug trade in today’s world.
- Victor Jammal
