EDITORIAL: Keep youth away from drugs

Over the years, countless messages have been targeted at the nation’s youth, advising and encouraging this group to stay away from the use, abuse and of course, the selling of drugs. Workshops have been organised, posters have been plastered across many walls, messages have been transmitted via the radio and television and many celebrities have joined in the effort to reach our young people, telling them bluntly that a drug-free life is the best one to live.

Mixed messages

However, as happens at times, some of our youth have been given mixed-messages about drugs by close people in their circle. Some youth advocates here in Barbados have noted that it is very hard at times to get through to young persons, who come up seeing their relatives, mainly male ones, selling drugs and making a good living from it. When a teacher seeks to inform a child that he or she could study hard and get a good job and make a decent living by staying on the right path, but the child remains adamant that he or she could make in a week or a weekend what decent working people make in a month, then it is very hard to get through to these children. This is especially so when they have relatives that are willing to give them the tools to the illegal trade.

It can all seem like an uphill battle.

We have seen scenarios in the past where young men have grouped together to plant and harvest marijuana, and these youngsters perhaps were never too keen on any agricultural science while in school. It seems that a fast dollar and a quick buck seem to be motivating factors, coupled with the fact that these youngsters may know of other individuals who have done the same thing and gotten away with it, though it’s illegal. Thus, it must be recognised that there is at times a clear disconnect between what children are being told a few minutes into the school setting, and what they are experiencing as part of the culture of the home.

Be more forceful

So what can we as a society do, apart from what we have already done?

Well, we need to send the message that organised crime in any form or fashion, does not pay in the long run. Oftentimes, those with a criminal mind will seek to use those who are more vulnerable, to pull them into their web, and they will use various means and measures to entice them.

However, we perhaps need to do away with the simple anti-drug messages and send more forceful messages, which emphasise the fact that the potential financial reward to be gained from peddling drugs in no way outweighs the risk of being arrested, prosecuted and punished. Why risk your freedom, simply for financial gain? Why risk your health, physical or mental, by consuming drugs? There has got to be a better way. The drug free way.