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Drug Abuse, Epidemiological Surveillance System Project (DAESSP)
Overview
A three day Basic Research Skills Training Workshop and a two day Project Review Meeting were held in Trinidad from March 17-21, 2003.Participants from several Caribbean countries including Suriname, Barbados, Antigua, St. Vincent attended the events. The meetings were convened to further strategies aimed at strengthening the research capacity of Caribbean countries to address the problem of drug abuse.
Project Review Meeting
This project was developed out of a need to gather information on drug abuse patterns in the region, particularly among the region's youth. The primary goal of the project is to strengthen the capacity of regional governments and technical entities to respond to changing drug abuse patterns and trends, and contribute to the abatement of drug abuse in the region.In the feature address The Honourable Minister Christine Kangaloo, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister (Social Services Delivery), highlighted the need to pursue strategic initiatives involving international and regional cooperation and collaboration in drug demand reduction.
Minister Kangaloo identified the following as imperatives to reduce demand for drugs:
- the global span of the scourge of drug abuse; its social and economic impact on, and threat to, the security of Caribbean states
- the inability of Caribbean states to effectively tackle this problem because of present limitations in technological, technical, human resource, financial and research capabilities and
- Trinidad and Tobago's commitment to achieving developed-country status by the year 2020
In addressing the issue of reducing demand for illicit drugs, the Honourable Minister stated;
" In order for us to effectively tackle this problem, we must first understand peoples' attitudes, behaviours and more specifically, their motivations for using or seeking to use not just illicit, but also licit, drugs. Such motivations are as diverse as they are wide ranging. Consequently, there is and can be no single uniform solution to what is an undeniably complex and multidimensional issue."She further noted that valid and reliable data was needed to inform strategic planning in the sphere of drug demand reduction. This data could be derived by analyzing information gathered from periodic and on-going empirical studies conducted among:
- Schools - primary, secondary, tertiary
- Correctional Institutions - prisons, residential houses
- The Forensic Sciences Centre
- The judiciary/magistracy
- The police - special drug unit/Traffic Branch
- The national community
- The national drug supply control coordinating agency
Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister
(PDF 80kb)
Research Skills Workshop
The major objective of this workshop was to teach basic research skills to members of the Caribbean Drug Information Network (CARIDIN),to enhance their ability to design and implement quality research that would inform governments and the public about drug-related issues.In her feature address Mrs. Cheryl Blackman, Permanent Secretary, Office of the Prime Minister (Social Services Delivery) noted that Governments are continuing to intensify efforts to suppress the illicit production, trafficking and distribution of drugs.
She stated that the most effective approach to the drug problem consisted of a comprehensive, balanced and coordinated approach in which supply control and demand reduction reinforced each other, and in which the principle of shared responsibility was practiced.
She acknowledged the need to intensify efforts in drug demand reduction and to recognize that adequate resources must be provided toward that end.
Permanent Secretary, Office of the Prime Minister
(PDF76kb)
Copyright ©
• National Alcohol & Drug Abuse Prevention
Programme
Trinidad and Tobago • Caribbean