For many people, photographs of crazed child soldiers operating under the influence of drugs were amongst the defining images of Liberia’s civil war. These pictures no longer occupy the front pages of newspapers ‒- but the problem of drug addiction on the part of youthful combatants persists.
Rebecca Sackie, 19, was one of those who were forcibly recruited and made to take drugs so that she would be brave enough to fight.
“When I was conscripted by the government forces, I was given drugs to be able to fight the enemies. I fought hard and I am now brave to do anything. I have killed and I can still kill … I am not afraid of death,” she says.
Fifteen-year-old Sekou Fofana, of the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), tells much the same story: “I was given drugs to be able to conquer Charles Taylor. Even though Taylor has gone, we are still taking drugs. We are used to it now.” (Taylor, the country’s president from 1997 to 2003, was exiled to Nigeria under the terms of a peace deal signed in Ghana last August.)
According to Edward Grant, a psychiatrist who runs a Monrovia clinic for addicts, the drugs transformed child soldiers into unquestioning “killing machines”.
He claims that up to 70% of the country’s 40 000 combatants, most of them child soldiers, continue to be drug users ‒- and that many have become addicts. Grant attributes some of the widespread lawlessness in Liberia to drug use.
Peer pressure also plays a role in the problem of drug addiction.
“My friends used to take (drugs) to social gatherings, especially the ghettos where they smoke the grass. They would get high and enjoy themselves by making wild statements and doing some brave things”, said John Caulker, a hawker.
“I had to follow their way of life because I was attracted to them. You know, when you are on drugs everything becomes simple for you. You overlook anything and anybody”.
Liberia has experienced intermittent bouts of civil war since 1980, although the most recent conflict began in December 1998. Since that time, substances like cocaine and heroin that were rarely seen in Liberia have become commonplace.
People who smuggle drugs into the country take advantage of its porous borders, and the fact that fighting has undermined immigration controls. Local production also plays a role: Before the war, the central town of Palala was said to be the main area for cultivating marijuana.
“Drugs come into Liberia at will, and there have been no visible attempts on the side of law enforcement agencies to stop the rampant smuggling of these substances,” says Grant.
In fact, the wives of certain security personnel have been accused of playing a prominent role in drug pushing. Liberia is said to have become a transit point for trafficking to other states in the region.
In an ironic twist, certain former combatants are also accused of using the $75 dollars they were paid last year as a disarmament incentive, to buy drugs. About 1 800 soldiers were given the money after surrendering their weapons to the United Nations Mission in Liberia. — IPS