Lockdown worries over youth

The National Council on Substance Abuse (NCSA) is concerned about the potential exposure of young children to illegal drugs, particularly during the lockdown and curfew periods when many may be spending considerable time without the supervision of a “responsible” adult.

In a statement on Monday, the council expressed particular distress about a video making the rounds on social media showing two young boys smoking a substance with an adult male.

Barbados TODAY has since been able to independently confirm that the video was taken last week in a St. Michael community and was first shared on the multimedia messaging app Snapchat. This newspaper also reached out to the adult male involved in the matter, but he has declined to comment.

While officials at the drug treatment organisation said they could not authenticate the video nor determine what the substance was, they were compelled to weigh in on the broader issue which they say is often perpetuated by “irresponsible” adolescents and adults.

“The NCSA has a zero tolerance [policy] towards the use of any substance that may cause significant harm to Barbadians’ health and safety. The chronic use of substances [among children and adolescents] significantly increases their risk of lifetime experiences with and greater involvement in other illicit drug use activity, early onset of substance dependence, poorer educational and occupational outcomes, multiple health and psychiatric problems, as well as higher levels of involvement with the criminal justice system,” the council explained.

“We are even more concerned now that children are away from school and in some cases unsupervised at home that they might get involved in these behaviours,” the statement added.

When contacted late last week, Acting police inspector and Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF) Public Relations Officer (PRO) Rodney Inniss said he had not seen the video at the centre of the scandal. He added that without concrete evidence and/or an official complaint, the force was unlikely to take action.

“It is not that we are going to ignore things, but as you know, there are millions of things on social media that pass through phones every day and if you can’t put a date to it, it may have happened ten years ago in Australia,” the police PRO explained.

Nevertheless, the NCSA has pledged to continue fighting the scourge of drug abuse, acknowledging that such issues are often shaped by social circumstances that are grounded in “poverty, poor parenting and peer pressure”.

“In this light, we are committed to providing effective interventions to deter these situations especially among minors and adolescents. These interventions include evidence-based drug education programmes to primary and secondary school-aged population, the wider community as well as counselling services to families who experience psychological and social problems as a result of drug use. (KS)