Youngsters resorting to potent drugs but herb, liquor remain top choices

Young Barbadians are abusing more highly intoxicating drugs, including crack cocaine, ecstasy and methamphetamine, even while marijuana and alcohol remain the drugs of choice, a report unveiled on Wednesday said.

According to the 2019 Barbados Drug Information Network (BARDIN) report, marijuana use is now especially prevalent among males aged 20 and under.

However, presenting the report’s findings, Laura Foster, a National Council on Substance Abuse (NCSA) researcher, said special attention should be paid to the increasing use of drugs other than marijuana and alcohol.

“The main substances for which treatment was sought in Barbados during 2019 were marijuana, alcohol and cocaine, both crack and powdered cocaine,” reported Foster.

But further analysis of the data showed that at the SAF and to a lesser extent the IDRC, people were also seeking treatment for other drug use such as ecstasy, tobacco, and “blackies”, a combination of cannabis and cocaine, among others.

Foster added: “When we take that data and look at it against the backdrop of the age-related data we can see it may be an issue where marijuana is more problematic among our young people, whilst drugs such as cocaine and alcohol are more of an issue for our older persons in society.”

Of the 7 660 offences recorded by the Royal Barbados Police Force in 2019, about 20 per cent were drug-related, and 91 per cent of the perpetrators were males, mostly between ages 20 and 49.

The main drug that people were charged for was marijuana, followed by cocaine, ecstasy, methamphetamine and alprazolam.

The research showed that men made up more than eight out of ten people seeking drug treatment, with most of them between the ages of 20 and 40. There were concerns about the low number of females coming forward for treatment for addiction.

The data came from the five main treatment centres – the National Council on Substance Abuse (NCSA), the Drug Rehabilitation Unit (DRU) of the Psychiatric Hospital, the Centre for Counselling Addiction Support Alternative (CASA), the Substance Abuse Foundation (SAF) and the Inmate Drug Rehabilitation and Counselling (IDRC) programme at Dodds prison.

“Males far outnumber females seeking treatment in our treatment centres regardless of the nature of the population or which treatment centre it is,” said Foster.

She said preparatory work suggested that a number of factors were contributing to women not coming for treatment, including them not recognising that they have a problem or the fact that their partners were also drug users and not getting treatment.

“It could be related to the programmes or the lack of what we call wrap-around services,” Foster added. “So persons might need help with childcare or help with transportation to get to the treatment, or job training in order to get employment. So those wrap-around services, if they are missing, will make a big difference in whether or not women come in for treatment.”

Foster noted that research will also be conducted to find out why more women were not coming forward for drug treatment and that data would be used to inform policy decisions.

“Our hope is that when we can get to the bottom of what is happening here in Barbados we can use this data to inform policy and programme changes that will then in turn increase the uptake of treatment by women. So we are still gathering our data at this time,” she said.

The majority of those seeking treatment at the IDRC (74.8 per cent) and the DRU (55 per cent) were for multiple drug use.

While all of those seeking treatment at the NSCA were for marijuana use, a third of those seeking treatment at the SAF and 11 per cent at the CASA were for more than one type of drug.

The study also examined suspicious activity reports. It showed that for the year under review, there were a total of 267 suspicious transaction reports, with 11 or them or 4.1 per cent being drug-related.

Dr Jonathan Yearwood, the NCSA’s Research and Information Officer, expressed concern that a decreasing perception of the harms associated with marijuana use was leading to greater use of that drug, especially among those in the 13 to 17 age group.

“Further, a more recent United Nations reclassification of marijuana places this drug among a list of less harmful drugs,” he said. “This may also inadvertently increase the use of marijuana among young people. Another pertinent reason supportive of marijuana use is culture.”

Dr Yearwood recommended greater investment in drug education and treatment as well as mechanisms to monitor trends associated with the continued emergence of new and harmful illicit substances.

He said drug prevention practitioners should give attention to the underlying factors predisposing young people to drug use.

“Crime prevention practitioners should work with the drug prevention specialists to develop a range of sentences focusing on community treatment for problem drug users except where the seriousness of the offence justifies incarceration on public protection grounds,” said Dr Yearwood.

“Policymakers should consider a balanced approach to drug prevention and addiction, focusing on health and public safety. Drug treatment and criminal justice practitioners should create opportunities for offenders and non-offenders leaving drug treatment to find work, and there is a need for further research on the social issues linked to drug-related crime in Barbados.”

Acting Attorney General Wilfred Abrahams expressed concern that too many of the policies being developed to address drug use and drug addiction in Barbados were not based on evidence.

He said the national response to the drug problem required consistent, reliable, and current information.

“Evidence-based approaches are considered to be the gold standard as they are based on research findings and have been proven through evaluation to be effective, as opposed to approaches that are based on personal beliefs or anecdotal evidence,” said Abrahams.

“The fact is, I find very often too many of our policies are based on undocumented evidence – people believe a situation exists when the data might actually show something else is the case.”
(marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb)