Parts of British cities are becoming no-go areas where drugs gangs are effectively in control, a United Nations drugs chief said this week. Professor Hamid Ghodse, president of the UN's International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), said there was 'a vicious cycle of social exclusion and drugs problems and fractured communities' in cities such as Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester. The development of 'no-go areas’ was being fuelled by threats such as social inequality, migration and celebrities normalising drug abuse, he warned. ‘In many societies around the world, whether developed or developing, there are communities within the societies which develop which ones become no-go areas. 'Drug traffickers, organised crime, drug users, they take over. Examples are in Brazil, Mexico, in the United States, in the UK, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester.’ The INCB's annual report for 2011 found persistent social inequality, migration, emerging cultures of excess and a shift in traditional values were some of the key threats to social cohesion.
Pray: for authorities to be enabled to take charge of these ‘no-go’ areas and transform these communities. (Ro.12:2)