Behind the shooting at a Foresta 2000 ranger at dawn, the torching down of his private property and the attacks on our cultural heritage there is addiction turned into crime. Every passion, including hunting and trapping, could change into addiction and the way from this point to crime is very short.

In tiny Malta we should be seriously asking ourselves why we have such a high number of addicts. I have nothing against people going after their hobbies. But when such a large number of people turn their hobby into a passion and even worse into an addiction, then something must have gone wrong.

The addict yearns for his addiction and cannot live without it. All other needs and values, from his own life to that of his own family and obviously the lives of other people come second to the addict. Therefore, the more addiction spreads, the more it undermines lives, security and the well being of a whole society.

Malta must address its pronounced inclination towards addiction. Many have already discovered that addiction thrives on dependency. An addict needs something or someone else to feel sure of his own self. All of us, families, schools and society at large must pose the question whether we are preparing our young ones to fend for themselves and stand on their own two feet in life.

We must question our chain of command even at places of work. Sticking to outdated hierarchical orders seems to bear more weight in Malta than having a workforce that fully exploits its own creative potential. Every part of life has become boring starting with family life, schools, church and of course the place of work. It is no wonder that more and more turn to their hobbies and to unchecked entertainment to escape this boredom.

At first they flee to their hobbies but where pressures persist our second lifers turn their hobbies into passion and addiction follows suit. In this own secluded world, everything – even crime – becomes licit and things or persons that come between addicts and their addiction must be eliminated.

It is up to our own law enforcement authorities to track down the culprits of night and dawn by using modern monitoring methods to keep the 300 hard core addicts at bay and thus reciprocate the intimidation that these spread on the whole society. But it is up to the whole society to deal with the causes of addiction in Malta and redress the situation effectively before it gets completely out of hand.

Agnes Debono

Kercem