Basil Jarrett | Cocaine, crime, and Jamaica’s quiet descent into moral decline

IN RECENT years, Jamaica’s national security issues have been dominated by lottery scamming, and the greed, violence, gang warfare, and murder that it fuels. For years, the entire country has been held hostage by the fight over lead sheets, fake lottery winnings, and the blood that follows.

But on August 6, we got a stark reminder that Jamaica’s problems with the illicit drug trade are far from a thing of the past. The $12-billion cocaine bust in Havendale, St Andrew, is a startling reminder that the ghosts of the cocaine trade are still alive, still present, and still very much a threat to our peace and security.

For those of us who remember the dark days of the 1980s, this is a cold slap in the face. Jamaica is still a critical trans-shipment point for cocaine moving from South America, but for many Jamaicans this a headache for Uncle Sam, Canada, and Europe to deal with. After all, the drugs are just passing through, right? But this is a grave misconception that puts us all in danger.

WHEN THE COKE COMES

Here’s the cold truth: Jamaica may very well be a trans-shipment point for cocaine between South America and the rest of the world. The problem is that when the coke comes, the guns follow; but when the coke leaves, the guns stay.

The violence, the murders, the gang warfare – it’s all tightly interwoven with the cocaine trade. And it doesn’t stop there. The drug trade pulls in money laundering, real estate fraud, and organised crime, creating a ripple effect that touches every single Jamaican in ways we don’t always see. Dirty money flows through our economy like an infection, hidden away in what appears to be clean businesses like real estate, transforming criminals into ‘legitimate’ businessmen who pop up on the social pages of our newspapers and across splashy social media posts. And while we see it happening, we rarely stop to think about the consequences until it’s too late, like the Cherry Tree Lane massacre two Sundays ago, a heinous crime which seems to have its antecedents in a fight over cocaine or cocaine money.

But it’s not just in rural Clarendon where these consequences play out. Look around you. See those shiny new luxury apartments springing up everywhere? The ones priced so far out of reach for ordinary Jamaicans that they might as well be in another country? Many of them are a direct result of this hidden wealth – money from drugs, crime, and corruption that’s finding its way into the fabric of society. Real estate becomes unaffordable for regular citizens because of these inflated prices, making homeownership an unattainable dream for most, as the rot creeps in and taints everything it touches.

NOT MY PROBLEM

Accompanying it is a culture of ‘see no evil, hear no evil’, as the sheer volume of dirty money in Jamaica today has compromised the very soul of our nation. Ordinary Jamaicans, people who once held firm to their principles and values, are pulled in, looking the other way in exchange for a piece of the pie. They may not be pulling the trigger, but they’re happy to benefit from the millions, as long as the blood isn’t directly on their diamond-encrusted, ‘Rolex-ed’ hands. And it’s not just the economically vulnerable who are falling prey to this moral decline. The well-heeled, well-educated, well-professioned among us are just as guilty, sometimes even more so, because they don’t need to sell themselves this way. Have we become so blinded by the love of money that we’re willing to sacrifice our morals, our integrity, our very humanity?

Greed is driving us to a precipice, and if we don’t change course soon, we’re going to find ourselves in freefall. This get-rich-quick mentality is eroding the social fabric of Jamaica day by day, and we’re all feeling the effects, whether we realise it or not.

THE WAY OUT

So, what’s the way out of this mess?

Well, for starters, we need to start by acknowledging that this isn’t just a problem for the police, the military, or the Government. It’s a problem for all of us. We can’t just sit back and pretend that because the drugs are moving on to other countries, the damage isn’t happening right here at home. We can’t continue to turn a blind eye to the ways dirty money is infiltrating our lives and changing who we are as a people.

It’s time for us to draw a line in the sand. If we want to salvage what’s left of our country, we have to take a stand against the corruption and crime that’s taking root in every corner of Jamaica. And that means holding people accountable and shunning those we know are involved, whether they’re the gang members fighting over drugs and guns or the seemingly respectable business people laundering their dirty money through luxury apartments, beachfront villas and seemingly legitimate businesses.

REAL CONSEQUENCES

And yes, we also do need stronger laws, better enforcement, and more transparency in our economic systems. The authorities must have the power to investigate and prosecute these crimes swiftly and effectively, and there must be real consequences for those involved.

But perhaps most importantly, we need to change the culture of silence that’s taken hold in Jamaica. We need to foster a society where people feel empowered to report wrongdoing, whether it’s a scam, a drug deal, or a case of money laundering, without fear of reprisal.

Because if we don’t, we’ll all be complicit in Jamaica’s slow descent into a nation consumed by greed, violence, and corruption. And once we lose our way, it’s going to be damn near impossible to find our way back.

Major Basil Jarrett is a communications strategist and CEO of Artemis Consulting, a communications consulting firm specialising in crisis communications and reputation management. Visit him at www.thecrisismajor.com. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.