Jojo,
I have been here a very long time and I dont have a choice but to always keep my eyes and ears open to what is happening in Negril and Jamaica. Of course some incidents are not reported here on Negril.com and not just because we are not an official news service. Some incidents cannot be reported even by the official news outlets as they are part of ongoing police investigations to get to the bigger targets. There is even more to this incident that I am not at liberty to post. It is not "keeping a lid" on anything as much as it is allowing the police to do their job. The extra information I have would make no difference to any visitor to the island anyway. What I have posted earlier sums it up.
You cant be naive anywhere. One of the amazing things about Negril is how giddy and free you can feel here. But with that freedom does come the fact that you will be offered drugs because tourists buy them. Prostitution will exist because the tourists want it. In Cuba that same freedom does not exist, thus you didnt get offered drugs, etc. although you will find the Cuban version for getting what you want. But dont get caught! Flying a drone in Cuba just got a Canadian tourist two weeks in a Cuban jail for getting caught.
Since you have been coming since the 80's, you must remember the "stockies" in the 90's that blocked the entrance to each West End Lane extorting money so they could get their next hit of crack. I dreaded having to go up certain lanes just to meet someone and having to deal with that intimidation. But those days are gone. And I heard the same thing back then that Negril was going to become a ghost town. It didnt and it wont.
As a tourist, LivinInThe603 asks how to make a difference. Well, if tourists stopped buying drugs, the illegal drug sales would stop. If tourists stopped paying for sex, the sex trade would cease to exist. For the lotto scam to stop, all it takes is hanging up the phone. But in the world we inhabit, I dont find this very likely to happen any time soon. With the freedom of Negril does come some responsibility.
Use legal taxis. Dont go to unfamiliar places without a good reason. Take a taxi at night. Never carry excess cash. Dont blindly believe anyone, local or visitor alike. Use common sense and enjoy yourself!
