Let's restore the order of values

By Franc Nuri 

The murder of a 20-year-old man who had come to Albania for vacation is first and foremost a human tragedy. But the fact that the suspected perpetrator has a criminal record in the United Kingdom for drug-related offenses forces us to look beyond the chronicle of one day.

In Albania, drugs have become very common. Many young people consume them, others have turned it into an economic activity, a way of getting rich and even into social status. Once a family was ashamed when a son dealt with drugs; today you hear people talking with pride that "he has a house in England", "he deals with goods" or "he has made money".

This is the most dangerous degradation: crime is no longer necessarily considered shameful, but a success.

The order of values ​​has been reversed. Education, culture, foreign languages, experience, profession, skills, and family are worth less and less in the face of a single criterion: how much money you have. It is no longer a question of how you made it, what you produced, or what value you gave to society. Only money matters.

When this mindset becomes normalized, life itself is devalued. Conflicts over a glance, a girl, a debt, a drug client, or territory end with knives and guns. Organized crime doesn't just damage the economy; it changes the culture of a society.

Even the construction and tourism boom should be viewed with a critical eye. The Albanian coast should be a source of prosperity from honest work and investment, not a laundromat for capital coming from drug trafficking. An entrepreneur who takes out loans, pays taxes and builds his business over the years cannot compete with criminal capital that only wants to be cleaned.

Albania needs a radical change of course.

We can learn from small countries like Singapore. When it began its transformation, it had about two million people and almost no significant natural resources. It chose to invest in education, human capital, professions, order, and a functioning state.

Even against narcotics, it chose an extremely strong policy: prevention, education, rehabilitation of the user and very harsh punishment of the trafficker. For trafficking in certain quantities of drugs, Singapore still provides for the death penalty. We should not and cannot copy this part of the model, but we must understand the philosophy: the state cannot be tolerant and lax with a system that destroys generations.

The trafficker must be severely punished, both criminally and economically. The user must be treated and rehabilitated.

In Europe, France provides a clear example. For the illegal transport, possession, sale or purchase of narcotics, up to 10 years in prison and up to 7.5 million euros in fines, both combined, are provided. For import-export in an organized gang, the penalty can reach up to 30 years in prison, in addition to the fine. In the French customs system, the financial sanction can be directly linked to the value of the goods and can reach up to a multiple of it.

Albania should move in this direction: prison and a heavy financial blow to drug trafficking. It makes no sense for the trafficker to serve several years in prison, while his family or partners continue to live off the millions in drugs. Crime must be made economically unprofitable.

Assets proven to be the product of organized crime should be confiscated and transferred to the state for schools, rehabilitation centers, public institutions or social services. The assets of crime should be returned to the society that the crime has harmed.

But we also need to change the economic model. Education must be linked to market needs, and the economy must reward the professional, the technician, the engineer, the doctor, the entrepreneur, and the person who creates real value.

We cannot continue to export the most educated and skilled Albanians, while filling the gaps with cheaper labor. Albania must aim for controlled emigration, according to professional needs, but above all, create the conditions for the return of Albanians to their country.

The drug economy may create the illusion of wealth for a short time, but the bill comes later: with corruption, murder, broken families, addicted youth, and emigration.

I don't want an Albania where those who study and work honestly feel inferior to those who get rich through trafficking. I want an Albania where those who know, create, work, build families and get rich honestly are respected.

This is the battle we must win: to restore the order of values.