People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria
Special Political Committee(SPECPOL): International Drug Trade
Drug trafficking is an epidemic that has been spiraling out of proportion. 3.3 million die every year around the world because of drug use. Latin America faces a growing Amphetamines and Cocaine issue, with 40 percent being addicted to the drug. 50 percent of all people that seek addiction treatment in Africa are addicted to cannabis. North America is dealing with opioids and cocaine, while Europe is dealing with ecstasy and tranquilizers. Opiate addiction rages through much of Asia. Each part of the world is dealing with their individual drug issues, but it is the international black market trade of these drugs that perpetuate these epidemics
Our nation-state of Algeria is not in a detrimental condition like many other parts of the world because of drug use. We have had 445 deaths related to drugs in 2017, with about 0.26% of all deaths were drug-related, which makes it the 92 worse countries for drug usage. Our concerns are primarily only one-two illicit substances; cannabis and hashish. The most commonly confiscated substance is hashish, in 2017 out government caught 52,609.91kg of the illicit resin as it was being brought into our nation across our southern region in the Sahara desert. Cannabis is a domestic issue in Algeria much like many other countries, meaning it is more often locally produced and sold around our nation, almost 30% of all the addiction treatment given was for cannabis.
Morocco is one of Africa’s largest producers of cocaine. Many drug traffickers will trek through our southern borders to make it to Libya and other places were cocaine is in demand, most of it will be smuggled through camel-back from southern Morocco in Algeria. At other points, cocaine smuggler ships will spot at our port cities before going north across the Mediterranian to sell the drug to European nations. In 2017 a record amount of 701kg of cocaine was intercepted by our coastguard and seized by customs authorities in the port of Oran.
Algeria is in a critical position to stop the spread of cocaine from Morocco, and we have been increasingly successful at stopping the issue, but now as the issue grows and smugglers get more creative it takes more resources to stop the drugs. If our nation had the financial strength we could cut off the flow of cocaine and end the drug’s usage in other European and African nations. In committee, we will be looking for resolutions that address nations like ours whose very territory is were these drug traders are moving substances through. International aide, or cooperating with NGOs and UN agencies in Algeria would allow us to more effectively and efficiently stop the Moroccan cocaine trade and potential stop other drug trafficking issues in other nations and regions of the world. Algeria looks forward to solving this issue and making sure the movement of drugs between nation-states is exponentially diminished.
- Tony DiMeglio
