FORMER DEPUTY COMMISSIONER of Police Bertie Hinds says that while fingers are pointed at the youth for abusing illegal narcotics, there are some people “ages 40 to 45 still involved in drug use and abuse”, as seen in newspaper reports.
“We cannot blame the youth alone; it is tiered. These people who commit these offences range now from the ages of 15 up to 45. If you go into prison, you’ll find them up there. Years of their lives that can be productive are being wasted in the prison system.
“They’re up there on remand for years to have their cases tried and so on and it’s painful financially, psychologically, not only to them but to their families – immediate and extended,” he said before the start of the documentary The Truth About Drugs last night at the Alexandra School hall in Speightstown, St Peter.
That documentary, which showed the impact of various drugs such as “So you will find people in their 40s . . . even verging up 50, still involved in low-level drug pushing and that sort of thing. If you look at the prison population, you will find that between 16 up to 40, 45 [year-olds] are up there for drug use.”
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