Serious concerns raised about the high usage of hard drugs in Nadonumai

Serious concerns are now being raised by some residents of Nadonumai about the high usage of methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana by some of the people including teenagers in the area.

The concern is being raised as there have been some violent incidents in the past few weeks however the residents want to remain anonymous as they are also fearing for their safety.

The community is still in shock after the stabbing incident on Saturday morning.

A family of three from Nadonumai is currently receiving medical treatment at the CWM Hospital after they were stabbed in their home by a 16-year-old boy from the same area.

Police say the suspect allegedly entered the home to commit burglary but he was disturbed by one of the family members. The 16-year-old boy stabbed a 2-year-old girl who was sleeping and the child's mother and father before fleeing the scene.

According to Police, the boy was found dead after allegedly taking his own life.

Questions are arising whether the people taking the highly addictive drugs in the area are now breaking into homes to target families to get money for their next hit.

Fijivillage has also been told that a few weeks ago, there was a similar incident where the coach of the Nadonumai Rugby team was allegedly stabbed by one of the youths from the upper Nadonumai area, and the youths from the lower Nadonumai area allegedly took the law into their own hands. The concerned residents say they are also concerned about the easy access to these dangerous drugs even for children.

He says the recent stabbing case that happened on Saturday morning shows that drugs can affect a person’s decisions and he hopes that more can be done.

Police say their main focus now is to try and get members of the Nadonumai community to assist them in addressing these issues by working together.

Spokesperson Ana Naisoro says the officers from Lami had visited the community and the Southern Division Command has been trying to engage people from the area to work with Police in addressing the issues of concern.

She says officers from the Police Special Response Unit were deployed to contain situations and they continue to work on building Police community relations in addressing issues of concern, particularly with the youths.