Young males using marijuana

The National Council on Substance Abuse (NCSA) indicated that the most recent report has found that persons using marijuana are mostly male and use it for the first time in many cases before their tenth birthday.

Minister of Home Affairs, Edmund Hinkson provided this information during his address to the congregation at the NCSA’s Drug Awareness Month church service at The Garden Church of God on Sunday.

He added that this report supports what the Council itself has seen from its own treatment intervention where more people seeking help were around 15 years of age than any other age.

“Marijuana was the primary drug motivating the need for treatment and the majority of persons seemed to indicate a family history of both legal and illegal substance abuse,” said Hinkson.

The minister was told that NCSA will release more findings and take note while exploring gender-specific drug prevention education interventions that will address young male and female populations particularly those identified as “at-risk”.

New surveys coming

Hinkson announced that NCSA has launched the first of two school surveys to be conducted in both primary and secondary schools. The national level surveys will focus on the level of drug use within the island’s school populations, issues relating to drug use, sources and locations where drugs are accessed, harm associated with drug use and curiosity about drug use. Other areas which will be examined in the surveys are the social issues such as social media and bullying.

“The primary school survey is currently in data collection phase while the secondary school survey is scheduled to be undertaken in the next school year,” said Hinkson.

He added the results of the primary school survey will be made available before the end of the academic year and the findings will be shared nationally.