Know the signs of substance abuse, says Minister of Home Affairs Wilfred Abrahams.
During a church service to mark the start of Drug Awareness Month, Abrahams listed some of the effects and told those present to “start thinking” of who in their workplace, community, church and family exhibited some of those symptoms.
Reading from a prepared statement, he stated poor job performance – including periods of inconsistent productivity – an increase in irregular work habits, mistakes, poor judgement and disciplinary problems, difficulty recalling instructions, the inability to concentrate for long periods, secretive behaviour and theft from the employer; impairment of coordination and missed deadlines.
“You all starting to think of somebody yet? I am being serious,” he told the congregation at the Collymore Rock Church of the Nazarene on Sunday.
Abrahams also listed increase absenteeism, morning tardiness, leaving work early, a large number of sick days for minor illnesses, poor interpersonal relationships on the job such as arguments with co-workers and complaints from clients and customers
“Let’s try this again,” he said. “Who in here has a definite person in mind at the end of that paragraph?”
The Minister said it was important to spot substance and adults needed the correct information to make choices. The National Council on Substance Abuse will be seeking to fill some of those gaps.
“If you as an adult choose to do something detrimental to your health, there is very little a Government, a police can do except clean it up after the fact. But let that be an informed choice. Let it not be for a lack of information that people turn to illegal substances or substance abuse,” he told reporters after the service. (Nation News)
