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A ‘securitised’ response to Jamaica’s drug problem
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Approach
Security lenses are used in the explanation of Jamaica’s drug problem and its responses. Drug trafficking and the outcome of the 2009 Jamaica-USA Extradition matter have reflected the use of extraordinary measures, through a process called securitisation. The securitisation model is used to examine Jamaica’s drug threat, security practice and outcome.
The research
The securitisation model describes a process by which governmental representatives enable the use of abnormal measures to address the drug threat because it poses a serious security threat to human survival. Securitised responses allow government officials the leeway to implement policies that go beyond legal control and parliamentary oversight. These policy decisions have to be made urgently in the interest of national security, otherwise a delay may cost the lives of citizens. Although loss of life is often an outcome of such governmental decisions, it is deemed a necessary evil.
The 2009 Extradition Affair involving the alleged Jamaican drug cartel was securitised. Extraordinary measures concerning the combined efforts of the Jamaica Defence Force and the Jamaica Constabulary Force to capture the alleged drug cartel resulted in the death of 75 Jamaicans. The danger of securitisation in this crisis is that it empowers the role of the military in the civilian impasse in Tivoli Gardens, Jamaica. It empowered governmental actors to curb civil liberties through the imposition of curfews which restricted the movements of Jamaicans in parts of Kingston and St. Andrew.
The research work assesses the application of security outcomes on curtailing and policing the drug problem and demonstrates how such practices impact citizen security. It fills an important gap in the study of the drug threat and security responses used in addressing it. It sheds much light on the interactions between the field of security studies and the practice of security exhibited by Jamaican government officials and law enforcement practitioners.
Conclusion
Securitisation was the governmental response to the destabilising strength of the alleged drug cartel. This securitised response has legitimised the use of extraordinary measures to address the drug problem. The imposition of curfews and the mobilisation of the military to combat the threat, as acts of securitisation, may not be a positive thing. Yet, owing to the scale of the drug threat, such measures have been justified by state officials, given the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the 2009 extradition matter
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