Some 6,500 people, according to law enforcement, gathered on Saturday in the streets of Papeete for a march against methamphetamine, the use of which has been "plaguing" French Polynesia for two decades.
Initiated by the Polynesian Citizens' Federation for the Fight Against Drugs and Drug Addiction, the demonstration brought together various associations and religious denominations, anonymous individuals and a few elected officials, an AFP correspondent noted.
"We want the population to become aware of the scale of this scourge and alert the authorities. The problem of +ice+ (the name given to methamphetamine in Polynesia, editor's note) is more than 20 years old. At the time, nothing was done, and today we are seeing the results on the ground," the president of the Federation, Kathy Gaudot, told AFP.
According to the police, 6,500 people gathered in Papeete, to which must be added a thousand demonstrators in the various other Polynesian islands.
Highly addictive, this drug is known to boost concentration, delay sleep or enhance sexual performance, but it has destructive effects on the body and mental health.
Charles Renvoyé, an active member of the Federation and former user, said he is "called every day" by families dealing with the addiction of a loved one.
"This morning, I went to see someone who stopped three weeks ago. She's going downhill and she's exploding. We talk about those who are addicted, but we forget the families who are suffering (...) Our beautiful Polynesia is rotten," he lamented.
"They even say that it's snowing in Tahiti because there's so much of it!" added Kathy Gaudot, who hopes that the authorities, both locally and nationally, will take "concrete action" to stem the phenomenon.
She called for additional resources "for maritime surveillance" and "customs services," as well as medical responses. "A detoxification center is a real priority today. The situation is dramatic. All social classes are affected, even well-integrated people," she said.
According to the official, Polynesia has some "30,000 consumers" for a population of around 280,000. "From what we see on the ground, we're even higher," she estimated.
Papeete's public prosecutor, Solène Belaouar, told AFP that she had "no indicators" that would allow her to confirm this figure. "But ice consumption is a factor in many criminal cases," she stressed.
Since the beginning of the year, 265 kilos of methamphetamine have been seized in the territory, according to the magistrate, including 181 kilos aboard a sailboat intercepted in the Marquesas Islands archipelago in July. However, the drug was not intended for the Polynesian market.
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