One of the social issues that affects this country adversely and that leaves much to be desired is that many people addicted to drugs and who commit crimes to feed their addiction are left unpunished, or better still not rehabilitated by some church or government agency, according to the hail of reports in newspapers

These victims of drug addiction are mostly ‘dumped’ at the Corradino Correctional Facility, which is not correctional at all as reports in local newspapers state that it is infested with drug infiltration and all this under the ‘watchful’ eyes of those who are responsible for managing this facility

We have also seen the recent march organised in favour of decriminalising cannabis under the pretext of toleration of soft drugs for medicinal and recreational purposes.

All this seems to suggest that this country is truly becoming a nation of the now proverbial “when the West went bust” not only financially but also morally. Christian values have deteriorated to an all-time low.

What is perhaps most shocking and alarming is that the action being taken against drug addicts committing offences (be it theft, car incidents, mugging and so on) is too weak and very ineffective to stop these people from offending again. It seems that the network and ring of drug pushers is getting stronger and has infiltrated every sphere of society both civil and political with the result that action is either taken too late or not at all. Truly, the muscle of the long arm of the law has become weak and short and fearful of reprisal because the pushers are getting the upper hand in this battle against drugs. The fight against them is setting the scene similar to the film The Untouchables.

Is it not high time that a protest should be organised now not to decriminalise drugs but to create an overall awareness and movement against these ‘monsters’ out there hiding under the umbrella of silence of a typical Sicilian mob and mafia-style omertà? This silent, subtle and circumspect behaviour is wreaking havoc on both our precious youth and those in charge of running this country and now is the time to protest and take action. People should go to the root of the problem and have the courage to speak out against this gross injustice and not allow criminals to ride roughshod over our country. They are sitting pretty on piles of quick cash watching without any sense of guilt or troubled conscience many of our youngsters rot and drown in tears of agony.

Anthony Zarb Dimech