BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Jun 15, CMC – The Barbados government says it is examining the possibility of establishing a Drug Treatment Court (DTC) as an option to help non-violent offenders who have been charged with simple drug possession.
Attorney General and Minister of Home Affairs, Adriel Brathwaite said that a specialised community court which would assist in the reduction of drug abuse, addiction and related criminal activity, is being considered as a possible option for the island.
Brathwaite said the government in collaboration with the National Council on Substance Abuse (NCSA), will hold a two-day DTC sensitisation workshop beginning on Tuesday to further explore how the setting up of a DTC model would be of benefit to the country.
“The methodology employed utilises the option of court-supervised treatment alternatives to incarceration which incorporate drug treatment instead of jail sentences, for non-violent offenders.”
Braithwaite and other government officials recently participated in the Drug Treatment Court Study Visit Exchange Programme and the Canadian Association of Drug Treatment Court Professionals’ Fourth International Conference on Problem Solving Courts and Innovative Approaches to Justice in Toronto.
Brathwaite said the Organization of the American States (OAS), through the Executive Secretariat of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission for Multidimensional Security, has pledged to support Barbados in launching a DTC pilot project.
The workshop will bring together professionals from the judiciary, health sector, and treatment and rehabilitation, probation, social services and law enforcement entities, to address issues related to drug treatment and criminal behaviour; provide practical examples of the considerations which are taken into account when establishing a DTC model, and the tools utilised when processing cases through DTC.
It will also explore the time frame needed to establish the framework for the model, the organisers said.