NASSAU, Bahamas, Jun 26, CMC – A survey has found that as many as 40 per cent of students attending both the private and public schools in the Bahamas have been exposed to drugs by friends who use the illicit substance.
The 2011 Secondary School Drug Prevalence Survey also indicated that 28.2 per cent of all 12th Grade males had tried marijuana at least once in their lifetime and that males were using marijuana at more than double the rate of their female counterparts.
Additionally, of those who admitted smoking marijuana within the past year, 28.6 did soon a weekly or more frequent basis.
The survey showed, however, that the “proportion of students receiving drug prevention education in schools, was at an unacceptably low level, was not universally implemented within schools, and varied its coverage’s across schools”
National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage said the results of the survey “speak to the need to implement and or strengthen substance abuse prevention programmes in the primary schools with reinforcements continuing throughout the students’ school career while ensuring that programmes are age appropriate.
“The lives of too many of our young people, especially young men who had tremendous potential to contribute to the further development of this nation, have been cut short due to their involvement in the illicit drug trade and the use of illicit drugs,” he said.
