Luthori

[Ligbruderkrieg]

March 3, 5728

Not even a year into the government’s term, they have already failed to act on one massive crisis that have struck our communities like a spear. Due to the Labour’s Home Ministry ineffective nature, the drug crisis that have struck our long-prospering and thriving communities has now been left out of the government’s control.

Drug trafficking has always been an issue within Luthori, although in recent years this issue has taken a turn for the worse. According to the Imperial Health & Prevention Agency, the Luthorian government’s body tackling with drug use throughout the nation, illegal cannabis usage has risen by 78% between 5708 and 5728, over a 20 year period during which the National Labour Party was in government for 16 out of 20 years. The Labour government’s striking inability to deal with the crisis, under four different prime ministers and even more governments has drawn criticism from all sides of the political spectrum, notably from the Conservatives and the HPP. 

“It is a lunacy to even hear that communities throughout the nation are being left to their own devices when the government is seemingly unable or unwilling to crack down hard on both drug users and drug traffickers. [...] It is a moral peril placed upon our great nation, and I hereby ask the Right Honourable Prime Minister to ask what this government will do to make our communities safer and finally do something about this crisis that they seemingly ignored for so long”, said HPP MP (and Tory defector) Sir Lloyd Genjisen in the Imperial Diet.

According to the Home Ministry, the drug flow towards Luthori seems to be originating from both Dovani and Majatra. In the former, largely impoverished and unstable nations make stable grounds for cartel and drug traffickers to set up production plants there. Due to the reliable climate, cannabis, opium, cocaine and heroin or methamphetamine produced in the global south and later exported to Luthori through entry ports of Narikaton and Darnussia and Beluzia, alongside Malivia and Hobrazia also acting as major entry points for drugs into Luthorian territory. The Home Ministry’s statistics from 5726 also described that 12.5% of young Luthorians (aged 18-25) had consumed at least one recreational drug substance in the last three years.

During the last campaign, the Conservative government promised to increase the number of anti-drug police forces by an additional 1,475. With the Labour Party’s victory in late August, these plans were put on hold by the Home Secretary Joshua Park after taking over the Home Ministry from the Conservatives. Mr. Park emphasised to the Imperial Diet that the Labour government was aiming at creating a “safe, reliable and non-penal approach” to drug usage crackdown, opening the way for a modification of the law about cannabis usage during a December 5727 interview. These statements were widely unpopular among the Luthorian public, with a Poldata poll from January 1 observing that over 82% of Luthorians were opposed to any form of modification which would allow some form of recreational drug usage in the nation.

“...drug users aren’t criminals, they are merely caught up with a nasty system, we are aiming at protecting our people from the usage of these drugs, but also we are aiming at crippling of illegal drug traffickers which are poisoning our communities with their nasty products, so in that light and objective, we are obviously looking every solution at our disposal, notably legalise the usage of some, low-level drugs, which would be heavily regulated by the government and sold at dedicated places such as pharmacies and users would be strictly followed by medical advice and counseling before being able to take one...”

Other non-state actors have also weighed in this controversial debate; the National Anti-Drug Association (NADA) criticised the Home Secretary’s plan as being “inadapted to the modern day’s concerns and needs”, the Temperance Society of St. Richard described any move to legalise the usage of drugs in the nation as being “ludicrous [...] and a complete slap in the face of our movement”. 

The Home Secretary was forced to back down from his comments on January 7, during his first speech in the Imperial Diet in 5728, where he described the possibility of the Labour government allowing drugs to be legally sold and consumed within Luthorian soil as being “near-zero”. The Labour government seems to be heavily divided over the issue, revealing the nasty issue of factionalism within the largest political formation to date. Some within the government are favourable to a relaxation of drug usage laws, such as Health Secretary, Dr. Patrick Bowall or as said earlier, Home Secretary Park, others however remain deeply opposed, that side includes the Leader of the House of Peers, the Lord Wittfield, the Leader of the Imperial Diet, Sarah Campbell or even, the Prime Minister herself.

How can we trust the Labour government to adequately fight this crisis while they are divided within their own house about the method that they should use to appropriately fight such crisis? With the continued rise in drug flow and usage across the period during which the National Labour Party was in office, no need to wonder why did the Luthorian government fail to act immediately on the crisis.