Topic 1: International Drug Trade
Country: Syria
Delegate: Raeeda Rahman
Special Political and Decolonization Committee (SPECPOL) addresses the political issues of international countries, but focuses on decolonization-related items. The topic currently at hand is the international drug trade. The international drug trade has been evident throughout almost every country for centuries. The drug trade refers to the illegal manufacturing and trafficking of drugs. The various degrees of drug trade inhibiting laws are placed in each country, with no efficient way to prevent the illegal trade among countries. Syria believes to decrease, and eventually eliminate, the drug trade, more suppliers should produce these drugs and let natural economics take place and legalize some drugs, which will decrease the demand for drugs.
Through the UN, many countries have attended conferences, like the Hague Opium Conference of 1912, and settled to an agreement to stop drug control, the first of which was the The Ten Year Agreement of 1907. As expected, many of the new solutions discussed were implemented and consequently produced the opposite desired results. The amount of drugs increased and the demand for these drugs increased. In response, many countries have started to legalize drugs in hopes to decrease the demand. Other countries have strengthened their policies against such trade. While this may be logical for some countries, many of them face an even more dramatic increase in the demand. Each country will need to address this problem in a tactical manner to decrease this demand.
Many of these resolutions passed in previous conferences have failed. By implementing stricter laws, many drug cartels and gangs decide not to produce anymore in fear of getting caught. This is the desired effect of the resolution. But for the drug cartels that remained in their industry, both the demand and price of the product increases because of the lack of supply. This provides greater incentive for drug industries to produce illegal substances. Thus, the resolution eventually made the drug trafficking stay the same, if not increase. Such resolutions will not help any country and will not produce the intended results.
Similar to all the countries in this committee, Syria hopes to eliminate the drug trafficking occurring in its country. Syria has many terrorist groups trafficking drugs within its country for profit. Syria is very limited with its laws against illegal drugs because of these groups and the revenue it gains for the country. Syria currently faces more pressing issues than the narcotic problem, but still address this as a dilemma for the international community. Syria is a significant transmitter and packager of heroin, and it distributes these drugs to both the US and European countries. The Anti-Narcotics Directorate, created in 2002, within the government of Syria was created to help combat the narcotic drug usage and trafficking. Syria is hesitant to work with the US in direct programs containing US military, but Syria hopes to resolve its narcotic trade domestically. By increasing the supply, the narcotic drug trade does not inflict on national sovereignty and instead takes a natural course of action to decrease the demand. The demand will not only decrease but also firms will be reluctant to produce narcotics if the price it is sold at is much lower, a direct result of the increase in supply.
The international drug trade impacts every nation in this committee and must be stopped for health reasons. These drugs create both physical and mental dangers to the citizens of each nation. As a narcotic trafficker, Syria is attempting to stop this trade before it hits the markets in Europe and the US. The solution suggested will decrease demand and price, which is the final destination before eliminating the illegal drug trade. Syria has guaranteed that the solution will not infringe on national sovereignty, as it deals with industries and markets rather than government laws and regulations. To do this, the government will have to legalize and revoke anti-drug laws that inhibit the natural course of a free market.
- Raeeda Rahman
