During a time when drug-usage as well as drug trafficking has become so normalized within the Maldivian society, there has been an increasing urgency to introduce and implement better drug rehabilitation as well as awareness programs.
Corporate Maldives
Although often overlooked, the Maldives is grappling with a serious and escalating drug problem that deepens each year. From the outside, the Maldives might appear as a serene paradise with few legal concerns, where life is a perpetual vacation. However, this idyllic image hides a harsh reality: a growing number of Maldivian youth are becoming entangled in drug use and trafficking. The consequences are severe, with harsh penalties awaiting those caught in possession or involved in the drug trade—penalties that are strictly enforced in most countries.
Just like most countries, the Maldives has always carried out punishment for drug trafficking as well as the usage of drugs. Over the years, the country has also managed to implement rehabilitation - although the effectiveness of the drug rehabilitation in the country continues to be a point of question as the drug problem in the Maldives continues to worsen. During a time when drug-usage as well as drug trafficking has become so normalized within the Maldivian society, there has been an increasing urgency to introduce and implement better drug rehabilitation as well as awareness programs. One of the core issues that has been outlined as to why the Maldives continues to face these issues lies in the deeply flawed economic state - which has made it hard for people to overcome a lifestyle where fast money can make you rich overnight.
Since a country as small as the Maldives cannot continue to ignore such large issues within the society, the Government of the Maldives continues to seek measures to resolve the increasing drug trafficking cases in the Maldives. One of the recent solutions that was announced by the Maldives National Drug Agency (NDA)’s Chairman Lubna Mohamed Zahir Hussain includes getting an extra MVR 30 million funding towards the rehabilitation treatment that is offered in the Maldives. This will be an addition to the MVR 117 million that is budgeted towards the running cost of the drug rehabilitation program, which offers a sanctuary for people who are seeking to take a better path in life.
In addition to being a place where people can seek to reform their lifestyle, the rehabilitation centers also give people a second chance in life. According to the Drug Court of the Maldives, a total of 586 people were ordered to seek help under the rehabilitation center in 2023, out of which 419 people completed their treatment while 173 people fell back on their bad-habits leading to a punishment within the court system being implemented.
Although these programs are showing some signs of effectiveness, there is surely a lot of space for improvement within the rehabilitation system as well. However, regardless of all the positive measures that can be implemented, it appears that in addition to the extra funding, there is also a darker side to reform that the Government may be seeking to implement.
In August of 2024 the Homeland Ministry of the Maldives sent a draft bill to the Attorney Generals’ Office which seeks to amend the current law on drug trafficking in order to impose the death penalty for drug trafficking. Although the death penalty has only been reserved for murder cases- failing to be implemented in most cases in the Maldives, the jump from death sentence for murder to drug trafficking has caused the public to raise a few concerns.
Prior to the Homeland Ministry drafting the updated amendments, the charges for drug trafficking in the Maldives was a maximum penalty of life imprisonment or 25 years in prison which also includes a fine of up to MVR 10 million. Though these measures are a bigger part of the Government's plan to curb gang related activities in the Maldives, in a country where the death penalty cannot even be passed for murder , to try to implement the same penalty on drugs is taking a step-back on reform and education. While countries like Singapore implements similar measures, the effectiveness of the death sentence to curb drug-related issues is a complete other debate.
Source: Maldives proposes death penalty for drug trafficking | Atoll Times
