MORE PEOPLE are turning to Verdun House and its sister residential treatment facility Marina House in St John for help with their adolescent drug addicts.
However, says chief executive officer of the Substance Abuse Foundation (SAF) Marietta Carrington, both Verdun and Marina have been forced to turn them away since the two facilities only cater to those 18 and older.
But the CEO said while SAF would be ramping up its outpatient counselling, there was an urgent need for a reform of child care laws to deal with the issue.
Carrington told the NATION the Foundation had noticed an increase in the number of people wanting help for adolescent drug users.
“But we cannot take them into residential care. Just recently, we were having a conversation on how not to turn away the adolescents. There is an outpatient treatment facility in Barbados which provides some support but that is not, in my view, adequate enough for a growing adolescent population,” she said, explaining they were getting requests for children who were 15 or 16. (HLE)
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