(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana) The Caribbean’s youth and adolescent have been identified as being most vulnerable to the growing problem of substance use and abuse.
Data put forward by the Inter-American Drug Abuse Commission, CICAD, reveal that the average age of “first-use” of drugs is approximately age ten and in many instances as low as age seven.
A report presented to the Thirteenth Meeting of the CARICOM Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) being held in Georgetown, Guyana, pointed out that alcohol, ganja and crack cocaine were the most frequently abused drugs, with cigarettes recording high usage among the adolescent and youth population.
The report also stated that youth, particularly young males often associate drinking alcohol, and ganja smoking as a “rite of passage” rather than substance abuse. On the other hand, street children use drugs as a means of fighting hunger, danger and feelings of abandonment, the report said.
While drug abuse cuts across all age groups, sex and social classes, its abuse has been found to be significantly higher in males than females. However, what the report describes as “transactional sex” by both male and female is often used to support the drug habit in some States.
Coordinator of Information and Research for the Caribbean Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD) Pernell Clarke told today’s meeting that increased research is vital, as well as a closer examination of causes associated with drug use and abuse. He said these will better enable planning and execution of drug use prevention and control programmes, and the development of new or existing best practices.
Clarke said the Region needs to evaluate its responses through the use of research to determine what works as it seeks to fashion a Demand Reduction Programme for Drugs.