Drug women

GOVERNMENT IS CONCERNED about the rise in young Barbadian women abusing illegal substances.
Attorney General and Minister of Home Affairs Adriel Brathwaite told the DAILY NATION, after a National Council On Substance Abuse (NCSA) church service for Drug Awareness Month at the Salvation Army Church in Reed Street, The City, that women were becoming as involved with drugs as men were.
As such, Brathwaite called for a refocus in Barbados’ efforts to fight illegal drugs, especially since Barbados was seen as a trans-shipping point.
“The reality is, we will have this challenge for sometime to come, but we cannot give up the fight . . . [because] not accepting the challenge will be to the detriment of Barbados on a whole,” he said.
In a telephone interview, Major Dewhurst Jonas, the Salvation Army’s divisional commander for Barbados and St Lucia, told the DAILY NATION that in “the past two to three years” there had been a “definite” rise in the number of young women abusing illegal drugs.
“However, we don’t have them coming to us, as we don’t have a rehab centre; but in our work with other organisations we have noticed it,” Jonas said.
A member of Verdun House, who requested anonymity, also said he had noticed an increase. A former drug abuser himself, he said it was becoming more rampant. He could not guess the reasons why. (CA)