Pubdate: Wed, 11 Jan 2006
Source: Barbados Advocate (Barbados)
Copyright: Barbados Advocate 2006
Contact:  http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3499
Author: Patricia Thangaraj
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

STATISTICS SHOW MARIJUANA MOST COMMON DRUG

While the Caribbean continues to be an important area for the 
trans-shipment of drugs due to its geographical location, with the 
designer drugs such as amphetamines and ecstasy increasing in 
trafficking, the most commonly used drug within the region itself is marijuana.

Information gathered from a Drug Abuse Epide-miological Surveillance 
System Project conducted among the secondary school students in the 
Caribbean, revealed that the prevalence of marijuana ranked as high 
as over 25 per cent for St. Lucia and over 20 per cent for Barbados 
and Grenada for lifetime use. For annual use, the statistics revealed 
that there was over 15 per cent prevalence in St. Lucia and over ten 
per cent in Barbados and Grenada. The various studies also found that 
more males use this drug than females especially in Bar-bados, St. 
Lucia, Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

There is also a concern about the amount of children under the age of 
ten that are using these drugs, Tessa Chaderton-Shaw, Manager of the 
National Council on Substance Abuse (NCSA) said. She was speaking at 
the workshop on the Pharmacology of Drugs, held yesterday in the 
Harcourt Lewis Training Room at the Barbados Public Workers 
Co-operative Credit Union Ltd.

Although there have not been any studies conducted in primary 
schools, the NCSA plans to conduct studies in the future.

Meanwhile, they are actively involved in drug awareness programmes in 
some of the secondary schools and would like to expand to work with 
other schools.

The most prominent of these is the Peer Support Programme that 
teaches life skills and guides students in making the right choices.

They also offer educational programmes at the primary level and 
assist in other initiatives like drug rehab at the prison, providing 
counselling for addicts and their families, training teachers and 
policy development. Chaderton-Shaw also said that they needed to find 
multiple ways of delivering the message of the dangers of drug and 
alcohol use and abuse, as talking may not always be the most effective method.

As a result, the organisation is trying to deliver the message 
through various forms of music, since children naturally gravitate 
towards this form of entertainment.

However, while the NCSA remains committed to the fight against drug 
abuse, they need assistance from other stakeholders such as school 
principals, parents, medical associations such as the Barbados 
Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP) and other key 
stakeholders. Chaderton-Shaw is also calling for an increase in 
permanent staff at the organisation. Currently they have two staff 
working with the secondary schools, one with the primary schools and 
two with the community.

There is also a high prevalence of cigarettes, with countries such as 
Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, Suriname, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and 
the Grenadines having the highest lifetime usage.

Like marijuana, more males use this drug than females with the 
difference in the amount of male versus female users increasing in 
places like Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and St. Lucia.

Among club drugs, alcohol is the most common with St. Lucia, Grenada, 
Dominica, Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grena-dines, and Trinidad and 
Tobago having the highest prevalence rates.

Again, more males use alcohol than females.

Ironically, the surveys showed that while young persons know about 
the dangers of drug use, they still continue to use them due to peer 
pressure, rebellion and curiosity.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom