Serious concerns were raised by the Permanent Secretary for Justice and Acting Permanent Secretary for Women, Children and Social Protection, Selina Kuruleca, that at least five to ten children roaming Suva City are injecting themselves with methamphetamine and there is a need for proper rehabilitation centres.
While speaking at the National Talanoa Session on Responding to Illicit Drugs in Fiji: Renewing Commitment Through Action in Lami, Kuruleca strongly believes that when we talk about demand reduction, we need to talk about harm reduction.
She says between May 2024 and May 2025, 2,400 cases of harm were recorded by the Fiji Police, and many involved young people between the ages of 18 and 35 years.
She adds that more than 300 methamphetamine cases and 50 juvenile cases were recorded.
The Permanent Secretary says at the same time, Fiji has recorded an alarming increase in new HIV cases in the first half of 2025, with 1,226 cases recorded, and the numbers continue to rise.
Insert: Kuruleca on fail, 26th Feb 26
Kuruleca says the vulnerability of our young children is at its highest ever and it is the biggest gateway to drug use.
She says we have unsafe homes, lack of supervision, trauma and violence, poverty and unemployment, normalisation of drug use, and the stigma that kills help-seeking behaviour.
Speaking on the issue of having a rehabilitation centre, Kuruleca says this has been one big argument, but there is a lot of land just sitting idle out there.
She asks why we can’t get together and build a rehabilitation home and get service providers that provide science-based treatment, and not hope-based improvisation.
Kuruleca says we must build rehabilitation centres.
The Permanent Secretary also highlighted that legislative reform is needed and our laws need to be modernised for community-based diversion.
