When Seychelles’ drug situation becomes the buzz online |07 March 2023

Many of our readers/online followers have shared the link to either the article entitled ‘Seychelles: The island paradise held prisoner by heroin’ by Louise Adamou and Chris Alcock for BBC Africa Eye, or to view the documentary ‘Seychelles, Heroin and Me’ on BBC Africa's YouTube page by The BBC Africa Eye film.

The documentary produced by the BBC Africa Eye Film tells the story of Joseph Fady Banane, a former heroin user who is now a social worker in Seychelles. In the documentary Mr Banane noted that “the drug situation in Seychelles has become a crisis”.

He introduced the viewers to an inmate of the Montagne Posée prison and to his mum; showed us the cells and the conditions the prisoners live in – something that the local media do not have access to!

Both in the article and the documentary, it is mentioned that 10% of the Seychellois population is hooked on heroin, thus creating job opportunities for foreigners.

The viewers can also follow the story of ‘Mimi’ who lost her young son through drug addiction.

Mr Banane even interviewed President Wavel Ramkalawan who was elected into office in October 2022 and he acknowledged that “the drug situation is very bad”.

“At this point in time, per capita, as far as consumption of heroin is concerned, Seychelles is number one in the world. And this is not a statistic that gives me, personally, great pleasure,” added President Ramkalawan who even before taking office made a “commitment to fight against drugs to liberate our young people so that they don't fall into drug abuse”.

Both the article and documentary are creating a buzz on the internet and both can be read and seen on the BBC Africa Eye page.

The drug crisis in Seychelles has been in the making for at least two decades and continued to get worse, therefore it is clear that a solution to this scourge will not happen overnight.

Mr Banane, who started using drugs at the age of 27 more than 10 years ago and has been drug free for some years now, rightly said in the reportage that policing Seychelles’ huge exclusive economic zone is a tough task.

At every given opportunity, President Ramkalawan talks about his government’s fight against drugs in our community and in his statement to the National Assembly to coincide with government’s one year anniversary in power, he sent out a strong warning to the drug lords.

Addressing traffickers, President Ramkalawan advised those who persist with drug-related activities to stop immediately, as they are fighting a losing battle, and that they will one by one be caught, until drugs are eradicated in Seychelles.

He also commended the forces for their successes in the fight against drug-trafficking and related activities.

Since then, there have been serious efforts at tackling the dealers, intervening at sea….. the supply routes, taking decisive action against roadside users and their drug peddlers, and doing serious arrests and prosecution through the courts.

Measures at the port and airport have also been beefed up. As a result, the supply has gone down as the price of heroin has more than quadrupled on the streets based on figures quoted from those in this illegal market.

There is much more to be done, rehabilitation, prevention and education to those not into this addiction yet.

In 2022, the Division for Substance Abuse Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation (DSAPTR), formerly the Agency for the Prevention of Drug Abuse and Rehabilitation (Apdar) said there were 4,267 clients on its various programmes and around 99 had successfully completed the programmes and 2,771 were still active.

Addiction is complex and there need to be enough trained people to treat addiction, including psychologists and nurses. There must be appropriate infrastructure also.

We all know from experience shared by other countries that fighting drugs is a mammoth task, but it has to be done and the government has given its commitment that it will be done.

Tonnes of drugs are seized at sea by the Seychelles Defence Forces and foreign vessels of the EU NAVFOR ATALANTA Counter-Narcotics operation, leading to the arrest of drug lords followed by sentencing by the courts.

We are headed in the right direction, but it requires time, resources and collective action.

Vidya Gappy and Gerard Govinden