Category: WM Special

Through work, community life and prayer, youth are being rescued from drugs, alcohol and other self-destructive dependence in Fazenda da Esperança in Masbate. Broken lives are made whole and acquiring new faith and hope.

Central Asia has, since ancient times, been a region blessed with open borders and trade with people from all corners of the world. This blessing has turned into a double-edged sword in the 21st century. The lack of effective border controls and weak infrastructure has created borders that are very easy to penetrate for goods that need to avoid official routes, such as drugs, weapons and human trafficking.

In 2007, the opium poppy harvest in Afghanistan beat a record. This year, experts expect it to be similar. This is “good news” to hundreds of thousands of impoverished farmers who can’t rely on any alternative crop to make a living, but very bad news to the country and the world.

Philippines is the third largest producer of methamphetamine in the world. According to the last survey, there are about 7 million Filipinos who use dangerous drugs. The social and human costs are obviously very heavy. But drug trade is also a threat to national security. And the whole country is being held hostage by powerful drug syndicates.