Local NewsNews Drug Education and Counselling Service gets $75,000 boost by Barbados Today 09/02/2019 written by Barbados Today Updated by Desmond Brown 09/02/2019 1 min read A+A- Reset Share FacebookTwitterLinkedinWhatsappEmail 559 The Sandy Lane Charitable Trust made a donation of $75 000 and 10 Lenovo laptops to the Drug Education and Counselling Service this morning at their Roebuck Street, St Michael office. Director of the Drug Education and Counselling Service, Roger Husbands welcomed surprise donation which was made by Pippa Challis and Julian Sacher of the Trust. Husbands said the funds would go towards the development of the organisation’s programmes, research and tracking of students who matured out of the organization. He said the Drug Education and Counselling Services hosted more than 300 participants from the ages nine to 21, who were recommended either from the judicial system, police and probation department, family or friends. He expressed alarm at the increasing numbers within recent years. You Might Be Interested In Crystal Beckles-Holder, 2nd runner up in regional competition GUYANA: Body of child found after gold mine collapses Barbadians asked to help with return tickets for Haitians “One of the things that I see happening immediately with the funds is for us to widen our counselling scope because recently we have been getting over seven referrals a day for youngsters, which means statistically something is happening in Barbados which needs dire attention,” he indicated. The Service has 12 counselors and eight volunteers who mentor the participants. Husbands notes that more social workers and counselors needed to be designated to address the issues facing today’s youth. He said a number of students who committed criminal or deviant acts and involved in drugs use suffered from a mental disorder. He expressed concern about the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes and its impact on the youth of the country. “For some drug lords, they are going to lose business because of this ….which can cause the drug lord to look at other drugs to bring in to make the money because drugs is a business,” Husbands said. (KK) Barbados Today Stay informed and engaged with our digital news platform. The leading online multimedia news resource in Barbados for news you can trust. You may also like Govt says viral video on Barbados-Trump relations “wholly fictitious” 19/06/2025 Government secures loan to help post-Beryl recovery 19/06/2025 Another national homelessness count amid policy overhaul 19/06/2025